GIFT  OF 
Author 


God   and   Music 


By 

JOHN  HARRINGTON  EDWARDS 


Origina  lyrct  nata  deUm,  viris  fessis  auxilium  et 
Icttitiam  ferens. 


-  God  is  its  author,  and  not  man ;  he  laid 

The  key-note  of  all  harmonies ;  he  planned 
All  perfect  combinations,  and  he  made 
Us  90  that  we  could  hear  and  understand." 


NEW  YORK:  THE  BAKER  &  TAYLOR  CO. 
33-37  East  Seventeenth  St.,  Union  Sq.,  North 


11 L^? -2 


Copyright,   1903, 

By 

The  Baker  &  Taylor  Co. 

Published,  February,  igoj 


TO 

HENRr  VAN  DTKE,  D.  D.,  LL.D. 

A  MASTER  WORKMAN 

IN  MANY  FIELDS 

AND  IN  ALL 

FOR 

W^  iUoster 


1  M  '  I 


Preface 

— ^All  men  are  vitally  and  equally  concerned  in  the 
true  answer  to  the  inevitable  question  as  to  the 
Cause  of  causes.  The  human  mind  cannot  rest  in 
mere  phenomena,  or  in  secondary  agencies.  The 
heart  of  man  refuses  to  satisfy  its  undying  hunger 
for  a  personal  God  and  for  personal  immortality 
with  anything  short  of  reality.  If  in  any  art, 
science,  philosophy,  or  supposed  revelation  there  is 
valid  help  to  be  had  toward  meeting  the  impera- 
tive demand  of  human  nature  for  absolute  truth 
and  imperishable  love,  it  will  find  ardent  welcome 
from  every  sane  and  candid  person  who  thinks  be- 
low the  surface  of  life.   -^ 

The  beautiful  art  and  exact  science  of  music 
promise  such  aid  for  the  illumination  and  guidance 
heavenward  of  the  soul  of  man,  forever  restless  till 
it  finds  rest  in  God.  This  art  has  long  claimed  to 
be  a  fitting  medium  of  communication  between 
Deity  and   Humanity.     Has    modern   science   an- 

7 


8  PREFACE 

nulled  this  claim?  Do  the  ascertained  facts  and 
laws  of  universal  nature  make  it  absurd?  It  is 
hoped  that  the  following  pages  will  give  reasonable 
proof  that  music,  by  its  constitution,  correlations, 
and  effects,  discloses  a  Supreme  Being  who  is  all 
that  the  mind  and  heart  of  man  need  and  rightly 
crave. 

The  art  of  melodious  and  accordant  sound  does 
not  bear  solitary  testimony  to  the  verity  of  the 
great  belief;  it  is  one  of  many  truthful  witnesses  to 
this  surpassing  fact.  The  other  arts,  all  sciences, 
and  the  philosophic  reason  fairly  interrogated,  agree 
with  it.  The  Christian  Revelation,  far  from  being 
outlawed  in  this  day  of  searching  light  on  all  be- 
liefs, receives  fresh  and  ever  stronger  confirmation 
from  every  side,  when  research  has  been  carried 
faithfully  onward  till  it  has  attained  probable  cer- 
tainty. But  it  is  possible  that  some  who  have  no 
ear  for  Moses  and  the  Prophets,  nor  for  Christian 
apologists,  may  yet  listen  to  the  message  of  music, 
as  it  tells  in  clear  and  winning  tones  of  the  God 
of  melody  and  harmony,  who  loves  beauty  and^ 
goodness  with  impartial  regard,  and  man  most  of 
all. 


PREFACE  9 

The  argument  here  offered  to  the  consideration 
of  those  who  care  for  either  the  art  or  the  faith  so 
closely  affiliated,  is  the  fruit  of  many  years  of 
thought  and  reading ;  yet  no  one  knows  so  well  as 
the  writer  how  far  short  it  comes  of  what  is  possi- 
ble in  the  same  line  of  inquiry.  These  chapters 
are  but  Jrial  shafts  sunk  into  a  mine  of  rich  truth, 
from  which  tempting  specimens  have  been  brought 
to  the  surface,  in  the  hope  of  attracting  other  stu- 
dents to  deeper  research  and  a  more  extensive 
working  of  the  boundless  wealth  of  closely  related 
artistic  and  theistic  fact  hid  in  the  wonderful  art  of 
music.  It  is,  indeed,  remarkable  that  the  theolog- 
ical value  of  the  whole  territory  of  aesthetics  has 
been  so  litde  appreciated.  If  the  present  attempt 
made  in  one  section  of  it  shall  lead  some  who  are 
more  adequately  equipped  for  the  task  to  undertake 
an  exhaustive  study  of  the  subject,  it  will  not  have 
failed  of  accomplishing  an  end  definitely  sought. 

To  relieve  the  somewhat  technical  and  dialectic 
character  of  portions  of  the  book,  quotation  and  il- 
lustration have  been  freely  introduced.  This  has 
been  allowed,  also,  to  show  that  the  view  taken  is 
not  that  of  a  mere  advocate,  much  less  of  a  theo- 


lo  PREFACE 

logical  melomaniac.  It  will  be  seen  that  many  of 
the  wisest  thinkers  and  greatest  leaders  of  men,  as 
well  as  those  possessed  of  artistic  genius,  have  been 
constrained  to  ascribe  a  similar  evidential  value  to 
music.  The  number  of  such  authorities  might  be 
indefinitely  multiplied. 

No  special  originality  is  claimed  for  the  present 
work  except,  perhaps,  in  the  marshalling  of  known 
facts,  and  the  converging  upon  the  main  point  of 
more  or  less  familiar  lines  of  argument  in  an  un- 
familiar but  legitimate  way.  It  is  only  just  to  say 
that  what  may  to  some  seem  commonplaces  of 
musical  science  or  of  theological  reasoning,  are, 
nevertheless,  quite  apt  to  be  entirely  new  to  the 
majority  of  readers  on  either  side,  and  are  necessary 
to  the  general  understanding  of  technical  matters 
introduced. 

The  intention  has  been  to  make  due  acknowl- 
edgment of  the  more  important  references  to,  and 
quotations  from,  other  writers.  In  the  accumulated 
notes  of  years,  the  exact  source  of  some  facts,  opin- 
ions, and  valuable  excerpts  made  use  of  has  been^ 
lost.  Credit  is  given  in  the  Index  to  all,  so  far  as 
known,  to  whom  credit  is  specially  owing. 


PREFACE  II 

Acknowledgment  is  gratefully  made  of  sugges- 
tions as  to  particular  chapters  by  M.  Allen  Starr, 
M.  D.,  Ph.  D.,  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons,  and  by  Mr.  R.  Huntington  Woodman, 
Director  of  Music  in  Packer  Collegiate  Institute, 
Brooklyn;  also  of  useful  hints  and  encouragement 
from  the  Rev.  VV.  C.  Stitt,  D.  D.,  who  kindly  read 
the  entire  manuscript.  This  recognition  of  indebt- 
edness docs  not  involve  responsibility  on  the  part 
of  either  of  these  friends  for  any  views  or  state- 
ments contained  in  the  book. 

BrookfynNna  YoriKf 


XI.     The  Altruistic  Art 215 

«3 


ERRATA 

A  final  desired  revision  of  God  and  Music  hav- 
ing been  prevented  by  ill  health,  it  is  wished  that 
the  following  corrections  should  be  made  by  readers : 

Page  113,  first  line — for  "four  hundred"  read 
"  forty-nine  thousand." 

Page  115,  fourth  line — for  "and"  read  "or  of." 

Page  147,  sixth  line — "other  acts"  should  be 
"other  arts." 

Page  233  second  line  from  bottom — insert"less" 
before  "favored." 

Page  275,  second  line  from  bottom — "millions" 
should  be  "trillions." 

Page  295 — sentence  beginning  "Lord  Kelvin's 
theory"  may  be  changed  to  read,  "Either  Lord 
Kelvin's  theory  of  atoms  as  uniform  whorls  in  the 
ether,  or  the  newer  theory  which  regards  them  as 
clusters  of  force-points,  is  consonant  with,  and 
probably  demands,  rhythmical  vibration  as  a 
necessary  condition  of  atomic  constitution." 


Contents 

I.  Thi  Thimi 1$ 

II.  What  it  Music? 23 

III.  Music  IN  Nature 43 

IV.  Wherefore? 71 

V.  Law  in  Music 83 

VI.  Correlations  of  Music 95 

VII.  The  Beautifier  OF  Time 119 

VIII.  The  Power  of  Music '39     • 

IX.  MUSICO-THERAPY 1 63 

X.  Design  in  Design 193 

XI.  The  Altruistic  Art 215 

»3 


H  CONTENTS 

XII.     The  Social  Art 237 

XIII.  The  Religious  Art 249 

XIV.  Music  and  Immortality 269     • 

XV.     The  God  of  Music 291      • 

Index 311 


THE   THEME 


"  He  seems  to  hear  a  Heavenly  Friend, 
And  through  thick  veils  to  apprehend 
A  labor  working  to  an  end." 

— Tennyson. 

"God  is  the  heart  or  well-spring  of  Nature;  from  him  all 
proceeds." — Jacob  Boehme. 

"  Take  God  from  Nature,  and  nothing  remains."— Nicholas  of 

CUSA. 

"  Theology  and  music  move  on,  hand  in  hand,  through  time, 
and  will  continue  eternally  to  illustrate,  embellish,  enforce,  im- 
press, and  fix  in  the  attentive  mind  the  grand  and  important  truths 
of  Christianity."— Andrew  Law. 


(university  ) 

V  OF  y 

GOD     AND     MUSIC 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  THEME 

A  WORLD  thrilling  in  every  atom  with  rhythmic 
vibrations ;  a  race  of  sentient  and  intelligent  be- 
ings, so  constituted  as  to  perceive,  combine,  and 
enjoy  an  endless  variety  of  musical  sounds,  and 
able  to  reproduce  them  by  artistic  methods  in  elab- 
1  orate  or  simpler  forms,  which  gratify  and  exalt  their 
higher  nature;  these  in  a  universe  ruled  by  all- 
embracing  law  that  binds  together  its  limitless 
realms  in  a  unity  demanding  one  sole  cause  equal, 
at  least,  to  the  production  of  its  component  ele- 
ments and  forces  : — given  these  factors,  what  must 
we  infer  ?    God. 

The  Deity  thus  declared  is  a  perfect  Being,  whose 
nature  is  harmony,  who  is  keenly  alive  to  disso- 
nance, physical  or  psychical,  but  who  delights  in 
every  form  of  beauty.  He  has  set  the  laws  and 
forces  of  the  universe  in  an  exquisite  order,  such  as 
will  bless  his  creatures,  by  their  own  responsive  co- 
»7 


i8  GOD   AND   MUSIC 

operation,  with  innumerable  melodic  and  harmonic 
sounds,  that  intimate  the  finer  beauty  of  holiness, 
and  may  greatly  aid  in  its  attainment. 

If  there  were  no  other  proofs  of  the  existence  of 
a  Creator,  supposably  infinite  in  wisdom,  power,  and 
goodness,  and  also  of  a  spiritual  constitution  of  the 
universe,  we  need  be  neither  atheists  nor  agnostics. 
Music,  with  its  implications  and  possibilities,  would 
suffice  to  show  to  all  minds  capable  of  responding 
to  its  appeal,  and  of  reasoning  upon  its  causes  and 
correlations,  that  there  is  a  Supreme  Power  making! 
for  harmony,  happiness,  and  spiritual  perfecting.       ) 

The  art  and  science  of  music  by  no  means  reveal 
all  that  God  is.  But  the  boundless  realm  of  melo- 
dious and  accordant  sound  does  indicate  a  Creator, 
whose  nature  is  full  to  ceaseless  overflow  of  the  love 
of  audible  beauty.  The  Being  thus  disclosed  pro- 
vides in  the  structure  of  the  universe  and  of  man 
for  the  making  of  melody  and  harmony  in  this  and, 
probably,  in  all  worlds.  "  Everything  that  the  sun 
shines  on,  sings,"  and  sings  of  the  Great  Musician. 
The  Germans  picture  God  as  himself  singing 
songs,  and  one  of  their  ablest  philosophers  avers 
that  without  music  life  would  be  a  grand  mistake. 


THE  THEME  19 

Everywhere,  always,  and  among  all  his  sentient 
creatures  above  the  lowest  stage  of  sentiency,  the 
God  of  music  uses  this  means  to  effect  some  of  the 
highest  possible  ends. 

Of  far  wider  and  more  personal  import  is  it  to 
know  what  God  is  than  merely  to  be  assured  that 
an  all-controlling  Power  exists.  It  is  of  unspeak- 
able interest  to  every  human  being  to  be  certain 
that  the  Ruler  of  his  life  and  destiny  is  of  a  nature 
kindred  to  his  own,  so  that  there  can  be  intercourse 
and  sympathy  between  invisible  Deity  and  sensitive, 
aspiring,  struggling  humanity.  Unlimited  might, 
concerned  only  for  the  establishing  of  ethical  right, 
could  easily  develop  into  an  uncomfortable,  loveless 
coexistence.  "  All  law "  is  "  all  love "  only  if 
wielded  by  righteous  love.  On  the  other  hand,  a 
divine  Autocrat  is  conceivable  who,  in  superabun- 
dance of  good-will  toward  his  dependent  creatures, 
would  supply  them  with  every  means  of  gratifying 
their  various  faculties  and  cravings,  artistic  and 
otherwise,  but  with  no  imperative  regard  for  the 
right.  Such  a  monarch  would  be  a  ruler  of  evil 
omen  to  the  universe.  The  calamitous  results  of 
his  supremacy  would  be  exceeded  only  by  the  woe 


20  GODANDMUSIC 

which  an  omnipotent  sovereign  of  infinite  maUce 
could  cause.  A  god  who  fostered  art  solely  for 
art's  sake,  regardless  of  moral  conditions,  would  be 
an  aesthetic  Ahriman. 

Music  glorifies  a  regimen  of  exact  law  by  the 
gracious  dominance  of  an  informing  spirit  that  de- 
lights in  the  well-being  and  pure  happiness  of  all 
who  hear  and  feel.  It  is  subject  throughout  to  an 
intricate  mathematical  system,  yet  is  the  most  al- 
truistic of  arts.  Spiritual  in  essence,  it  utilizes  the 
senses  for  the  higher  education  of  the  soul.  Born 
in  the  sphere  of  pure  spirit,  it  touches  the  lower 
level  of  matter  only  to  spring  upward,  and,  if  true 
to  its  origin,  to  rise  on  the  pulsating  wings  of  the 
ether  to  loftier  regions.  The  home  of  music  is  in 
the  bosom  of  the  Eternal.  It  is  the  only  known 
language  indigenous  to  heaven  and  heard  in  all  in- 
habited worlds.  Music  is  the  lingua  franca  of  the 
universe.  Modern  science  goes  far  to  confirm  this 
idea  of  oldest  philosophy. 

The  "  passionate  love  of  unity,"  which  marks  our 
time  above  others,  finds  in  this  late-born  science 
fresh  and  eloquent  attestation  of  the  oneness  of  the 
Creator  and  the  homogeneity  of  creation.     Were 


THE  THEME  zi 

there  gods  many,  or  demiurgic  sub-gods  working 
at  will  in  the  universe,  the  music  of  the  spheres 
would  be  palpable  discord,  prohibitory  of  science, 
and  a  torment  to  ear  and  soul.  Pantheocracy 
would  be  pandemonium. 

Visible  and  audible  beauty  are  one  in  origin,  in 
ultimate  constitution,  and  in  purpose.  The  aes- 
thetic argument  for  the  being  of  God  has  not  been 
developed  in  any  degree  corresponding  to  that  at- 
tained in  other  kinds  of  theistic  proof,  yet  it  is  one 
of  the  strongest.  Its  contents,  moreover,  disclose  a 
God  of  such  attributes  as  to  commend  him  to  all 
who  love  beauty  in  any  of  its  forms.  A  music- 
loving  and  a  music-making  Deity  is  close  akin  to 
the  Heavenly  Father  of  the  Gospels.  From  the 
morning  of  creation  he  ordained  song  and  glad- 
ness for  the  recreant  but  redeemed  prodigals  of 
earth  on  their  return  to  the  Father's  heart  and 
home. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  essay  to  demonstrate 
anew  that  God  is ;  but,  postulating  the  common 
theistic  belief  as  at  least  possibly  true,  to  inquire  if 
in  the  wonderful  art  of  music  there  are  any  clear 


22  GODANDMUSIC 

intimations  of  his  being  and  nature.  Should  the 
argument  attempted  prove  to  some  who  may  follow 
it  a  credible  suggestion  of  rich  depths  and  heights 
of  half-discovered  truth  leading  from  audible  nature 
up  to  God,  it  will  be  well  worth  the  labor  spent 
upon  it. 

To  show  that  music,  even  as  yet  imperfectly 
mastered  and  understood,  is  an  effluence  and  evi- 
dence of  Deity,  is  a  proposition  that  deserves  seri- 
ous study  and  sympathetic  judgment.  It  may 
prove  that  much  essential  theology  is  latent  in  the 
art  of  harmonious  sound.  Possibly  better  than  by 
metaphysics,  and  far  more  truly  than  by  polemics, 
the  direct  knowledge  that  God  is  the  Rewarder  of 
all  who  aspire  to  know  and  be  like  him,  may  be 
taught  by  the  tones  and  forms  of  pure  music. 
Only  it  must  be  true  music,  worthy  its  divine 
Original,  and  not  of  sensuous  type  appealing  to  the 
senses  alone  or  chiefly.  Moreover,  to  know  any 
kind  of  reality,  especially  the  highest,  man  "  must 
feel  and  act,  as  well  as  sense  and  think." 


WHAT    IS    MUSIC? 


"  Music  is  the  manifestation  of  the  inner  essential  nature  of  all 
that  is." — Beethoven. 

"  The  '  atheists  of  expression  ^  cannot  deny  the  unspeakable 
power  of  music  to  express  joy  and  pain.  The  spirit  of  music  is 
incapable  of  malice  and  mechancet'e." 

"  The  same  transformation  through  the  awakened  sense  of  the 
infinite  is  seen  in  the  domain  of  art  itself.  As  sculpture,  with  its 
exactness  of  line  and  severe  proportions,  is  the  representative  art 
of  the  Greeks,  so  music  which  is,  as  it  were,  the  attempt  to  express 
the  unutterable  in  feeling  and  aspiration,  is  the  representative  art 
of  modem  thought." — D.  W.  Forest. 


CHAPTER  II 

WHAT   IS    MUSIC? 

The  universe  is  rhythmical  in  every  element  and 
movement.  Its  history  marches  in  ordered  throb 
and  step  to  some  far-off,  divine  event,  which  will 
crown  the  long  progression  with  perfect  harmony. 
What  men  call  music  is  a  symbol  foreshadowing 
the  final  consonance  of  all  things,  material  and 
spiritual.  It  is  a  breaking  into  sound  of  the  funda- 
mental rhythm  of  universal  being.  The  human  art 
is  but  a  trying  of  the  strings,  the  often  discordant 
attuning  of  this  and  that  instrument,  at  best  a  first 
rehearsal  on  earth  of  the  divine  symphony  of  crea- 
tion. But  the  motif  is  recognizable.  The  full, 
subhme  harmony  is  coming.  The  law  of  spiritual 
rhythm  will  subdue  all  things  to  itself. 

Music  is  not  merely  rhythmic  sound ;  it  is  yet 

more  the  expression  of  spiritual  experiences.     In^ 

Spohr's  words,  it  may  be  poetically  described  as 

*'  the  consecration  of  sound."     Schopenhauer  more 

*5 


) 


26  GODANDMUSIC^ 

definitely  says  that  it  is  "  the  quintessence  of  life 
and  events,  without  likeness  to  any  of  them." 
Plato  and  Aristotle  insisted  that  music  is  the  most 
adequate  imitation,  meaning,  doubtless,  the  truest 
expression,  of  life  and  character,  or  of  moral  tem- 
perament. This  may  have  suggested  Zola's  epi- 
gram, "  Art  is  nature  seen  through  a  temperament "  j 
but,  as  music  is  an  intimate  part  of  nature,  it  cannot 
rightly  be  called  miitation  of  nature.  Hanslick 
affirms  that  "  music  embodies  the  general  figures 
and  dynamic  element  of  occurrences,  carrying  our 
feelings  with  it." 

These  and  similar  defining  statements  are  a  varied 
phrasing  of  the  truth  that  music  goes  deeper  than 
sense,  and  springs  out  of  the  spiritual  process  in  the 
universal  life. 

It  is  nothing  less  than  cosmic,  the  very  soul  of 
motion,  and  immanent  in  all  right  feeling,  thought, 
and  action.  Order,  proportion,  form,  constitute 
the  palpable  ideality  in  every  art ;  but  to  say  that 
"  rhythm  is  the  soul  of  music,"  is  to  put  second 
first.  Thought  and  feeling  are  before  act.  Power 
is  the  dynamic  of  motion.  Efficient  power  is  will 
at  work.     Thought  is   mental  motivity,  but  what 


WHATISMUSIC?  27 

is  thought  depends  upon  antecedent  tendency. 
There  is  Art  before  art.  Potential  music  governs 
the  actual. 

Since  modes  of  motion  can  produce  only  modes 
of  motion,  Lotzc  argues  that  music  could  not 
generate  spiritual  states  if  there  were  no  spiritual 
force  and  substance  to  utter  it  to  a  spirit  in  man. 
This  is  the  thought  which  the  author  of  "  Charles 
Auchester  "  more  subtly  expresses :  "  I  felt  that  it 
is  not  in  voice  that  the  thing  called  music  hides ;  it 
is  the  uncreated  intelligence  of  tone  that  genius 
breathes  into  the  created  elements  of  sound." 

Schopenhauer  is  accurate  as  well  as  eloquent 
when  he  writes :  ••  Of  all  the  arts,  music  hiost  uni- 1 
versally  and  most  many-sidedly  portrays  the  very  ' 
essence  of  the  will,  the  very  soul  of  passion,  the 
very  heart  of  this  capricious,  world-making,  and  in- 
comprehensible inner  nature  of  ours.  Music  shows 
us  just  what  the  will  is,  eternally  moving,  striving, 
charging,  flying,  struggling,  wandering,  returning  to 
itself,  and  then  beginning  afresh  with  no  deeper 
purpose  than  just  life.  It  is  great  and  strong,  never 
by  virtue  of  abstract  ideas,  but  only  by  the  might 
of  the  will  that  it  embodies." 


z8  GODANDMUSIC 

The  will  to  create  music  operates  through  audible 
vibrations  of  certain  velocities  and  ratios.  Every 
atom  and  ion  in  the  universe  is  a-tremble  with 
rhythmic  motion.  Rhythm,  Herbert  Spencer  says, 
is  a  fact  of  all  motion  and  deducible  from  the 
persistence  of  force ;  but  this  is  only  a  condition, 
not  a  cause  of  ordered  and  beautiful  existence. 
The  whole  creation  is  attuned  to  a  foreordered  har- 
mony, which  is  the  product  of  exact  ratios  of  the 
universal  vibration.  It  can  even  be  affirmed  that 
the  universe  is  not  only  set  to  music,  but  is  the 
product  of  music.  Creation  is  simply  vibratile  force 
subject  to  intelligent  will. 

A  recent  theory  to  account  for  gravitation  may 
possibly  explain  the  physical  origin  of  matter  with 
all  its  form  and  relations.  Bjerknes  supposes  that 
bodies  of  visible  size  vibrating  at  the  same  musical 
pitch  may  attract  each  other.  If,  among  the  many 
modes  of  atomic  thrill,  there  is  one  general  pulsa- 
tion common  to  all  atoms,  the  vibrating  units  may 
be  drawn  together  by  unisonous  impulse  acting  as 
the  square  of  the  distance.  The  mutual  attraction 
of  atoms  vibrating  at  the  same  or  harmonious  ratios 
may  yet  prove  to  be  the  final  mechanical  explana- 


WHATISMUSIC?  19 

tion  of  molecular  structure,  chemical  affinity,  crys- 
tallization, organic  development,  and  stellar  arrange- 
ment. Life  in  every  form  is  rhythmic,  though  not 
necessarily  due  to  atomic  vibration.  Will  power 
first  set  the  ether  vibrating,  and  the  divine  will  may 
conceivably  use  this  means  for  propagating  life. 

Pythagoras  had  scientific  ground  for  his  basal 
principle  that  God  organized  all  nature  according 
to  the  laws  of  harmony.  His  axiom,  "  All  is  num- 
ber and  harmony,"  is  verifiable  by  mathematical 
demonstration.  Plato  was  a  Pythagorean  so  far  as 
to  reiterate  the  dictum  that  the  soul  of  the  cosmos 
is  musical  harmony.  Long  before  their  day  the 
Egyptian  philosophers  made  music  the  symbol  of 
the  universe.  They  found  it  akin  to  astronomy, 
the  divine,  all-explaining  science.  The  early 
Hindu  belief  traced  this  art  to  heaven  as  its  birth- 
place. Its  five  modes,  as  practiced  by  the  primitive 
Aryans  in  India,  were  held  to  have  sprung  from 
the  five  heads  of  Krishna.  Hebrew  Scripture  does 
not  commit  itself  to  unscientific  theories  of  the 
origin  of  music,  but  testifies  to  its  early  adoption  as 
an  expressional  aid  to  worship.  The  brooding 
Spirit  of  the  creation  account  in  Genesis  consists 


30  GODANDMUSIC 

with  the  scientific  theory  of  atomic,  vibratile  motion 
as  the  parent  of  all  physical  forces. 

The  more  thoroughly  music  is  studied  in  its 
rhythmical  constitution  and  its  correlations  with 
other  forms  of  spiritual  and  physical  being,  the 
more  certainly  it  is  seen  to  be  cosmical  in  itself, 
and  in  its  interrelations  with  the  rest  of  the  universe. 
The  choral  harmonies  of  the  spheres  are  as  possible 
to  science  as  delightful  to  imagination.  If  faith 
were  limited  to  the  actually  visible  and  audible, 
progress  in  science  would  be  impossible,  and  its 
most  valuable  revelations  would  be  in  vain.  Inven- 
tions in  the  field  of  acoustics,  where  the  wonders  of 
the  telephone  and  phonograph  have  been  found  but 
yesterday,  may  some  time  enable  men  to  hear  plan- 
etary anthems  and  sidereal  symphonies.  Why  not, 
when  the  cold  calculations  of  mathematical  as- 
tronomy have  revealed  planets  before  unseen? 
Shall  the  grandest  discoveries  in  our  knowledge  of 
the  universe  be  always  limited  to  the  visual,  while 
equal  marvels  doubtless  await  the  ear  ?  Neptune, 
Uranus,  and  other  worlds,  known  and  unknown, 
may  yet  take  their  audible  part  in  the  celestial  or- 


WHAT  IS   MUSIC?  31 

chcstra,  when  far-hearing  devices  shall  enable  us  to 
perceive  aerial  vibrations  of  low  velocities  originat- 
ing at  great  distances,  as  telescope  and  spectroscope 
now  assist  the  eye  to  sec  rays  of  light  otherwise  in- 
visible. With  a  sound-magnifying  instrument, 
which  would  make  the  ear  capable  of  perceiving 
vibrations  in  the  ether  coming  at  the  rate  of  four 
hundred  million  millions  per  second,  we  could 
hear  red.  But  all  that  would  be  necessary  in 
order  to  perceive  the  few  hundred  vibrations  in 
each  second  which  produce  most  musical  tones, 
would  be  some  mechanical  means  of  magnifying 
the  tone  waves  so  as  to  bring  them  within  present 
hearing  power.  This,  indeed,  seems  impossible,  but 
so  have  antecedently  seemed  most  of  the  great 
physical  discoveries.  Electricity,  or  some  other 
force  hitherto  unknown,  may  yet  lend  us  ears  to 
hear  the  seemingly  inaudible.  Herzian  waves, 
millions  of  miles  in  length  and  moving  with  almost 
the  velocity  of  light,  are  now  intercepted  and  their 
transoceanic  message  read  by  eye  and  ear  alike. 
Science  anticipates  prophecy.  Its  coming  triumphs 
who  can  predict  ? 

Whatever  the  future  of  science  may  have  in  store 


32  GOD   AND   MUSIC 

for  the  world  in  this  respect,  the  mathematical  argu- 
ment holds  good  for  the  ancient  supposition  that 
the  created  universe  not  only  originated  in  a  Mind 
ruled  and  ruling  by  the  laws  of  harmony,  but  also 
thrills  in  every  atom  and  star  with  audible  conso- 
nant vibrations  — 

"  i^oiian  music  measuring  out 

The  steps  of  Time — the  shocks  of  Chance  — 
The  blows  of  Death," 

The  art  of  music  springs  from  a  rhythmical 
origin.  Every  organ  of  the  human  body  has  its 
own  fundamental  rhythm.  The  pulse-beat  is  a 
representative  example.  The  heart  holds  life's 
baton  and  leads  the  vital  chorus.  The  muscular 
sense,  physiologists  teach,  is  the  measure  of  time. 
The  time-sense  is  due,  according  to  this  theory,  to 
muscular  contraction  and  relaxation.  Dr.  J.  S. 
Wilks,  in  the  Medical  Magazine  says  that  "  there 
must  be  up-and-down  movement  in  all  muscular 
action,  and  in  this,  therefore,  music  appears  to  have 
had  its  origin."  This  suggestion  is  probably  true 
as  to  the  mechanical,  sensuous  element  in  the  art, 
though  this  is  not  strictly  music,  but  only  the 
medium  of  its  spiritual  essence. 


WHATISMUSIC?  33 

When  regular  and  harmonious,  the  complex  or- 
ganic rhythm  gives  a  sense  of  well-being,  and  often 
of  positive  pleasure.  Its  disturbance  causes  pain. 
The  enjoyment  of  rhythmic  motion  was  early  found 
to  be  heightened  by  the  regulated  movements  of 
dancing.  Whether  measured  music  began  in  the 
appeal  to  the  ear  and  brain  by  the  voice,  or  by  rude 
instruments  used  to  sustain  the  agreeable  motion  of 
the  dance,  or  in  some  other  way,  it  had  independ- 
ent birth  in  the  pleasure  which  rhythmic  sounds,  in 
gratifying  succession  and  combination,  gave  to  the 
sense  awakened  by  audible  vibrations  in  the  air. 
Discords,  or  musical  sounds  unfitting  the  environ-! 
ment,  such  as  lively  tunes  at  a  funeral  or  dirges  at  al 
wedding,  cause  a  feeling  of  uneasiness  or  actual 
pain.  The  vital  functions  are  stimulated  by  that 
which  gives  pleasure,  abated  by  whatever  is  painful. 
Hence  music  must  very  early  have  taken  a  high 
place  among  the  pleasurable  activities  of  men. 

Before  human   beings   talked   intelligibly,   they' 
probably   sang    imitatively.      The    first    articulate 
signs  by   which   mind   communicated   with    mind 
were  probably  musical,  echoes  or  imitations  of  me- 
lodious sounds  in  nature.     Language  and  the  art  of 


34  GODANDMUSIC 

music  grew  from  the  same  common  stem.  Speech, 
however,  was  artificial,  while  music  was  natural. 
Rude  yet  sympathetic  efforts  at  expression  of  feel- 
ing were  the  first  forms  of  a  wonderful  and  beauti- 
ful art.  But  it  outgrew  this  elementary  stage  as 
soon  as  the  human  soul  developed  an  intellectual 
apprehension  of  its  own  states,  and  learned  other 
possibilities  of  expression  given  it  by  melodic 
sounds.  I  As  an  art,  music  was  born  of  the  perhaps 
unconscious  attempt  to  express  what  was  strongly 
and  pleasantly  felt.|  The  least  material  of  arts, 
music  expresses  the  spiritual  in  man  more  immedi- 
ately than  painting,  sculpture,  architecture,  or  even 
poetry.  It  voices  his  ideals  and  aspirations,  his 
deepest  feelings,  and  his  unutterable  longings. 

For  this  capacity  there  is  adequate  reason  in  the 
constitution  of  mind  and  of  things.  Life  is  motion, 
a  ceaseless  ongoing.  Feeling,  the  first  effect  of  life, 
is,  in  psychical  experience,  emotion.  Melody,  by 
the  definition  of  Helmholtz,  is  motion  of  pitch, 
capable  of  expressing  emotion  of  all  kinds.  Repre- 
senting pure  movement,  music,  in  Schelling's 
phrase,  is  above  all  others  "  the  art  which  strips  off 


WHAT  IS  MUSIC?  35 

the  bodily."  It  is  a  dear  product  of  the  human 
•  mind  in  time,  and  so  can  embody  in  ethereal  form 
the  passing,  changing  spiritual  states  of  the  human 
soul.  There  is  in  it  far  more  than  melodious  sound 
symmetrically  ordered.  The  soul  of  music  is  a 
spiritual  content  of  mind,  with  a  meaning  and  force 
which  cannot  possibly  be  the  product  of  mere  vi- 
brations in  the  atmosphere.  Modes  of  motion  may 
explain  things  physical,  but  can  no  more  originate 
psychical  events  than  a  locomotive  can  construct  a 
logarithm. 

In  the  first  place,  music  is  essentially  intellectual. 
"  Seeing  and  hearing  are  in  reality  complicated  acts 
of  judgment."  The  mind  sees,  not  the  eye.  The 
mind  hears,  not  the  tympanum  or  the  fibres  of 
Corti.  What  eye,  ear,  or  brain  receives  is  simply  a 
motion  in  space.  The  soul  dwelling  within  sends, 
and  alone  receives,  the  spiritual  message  of  the 
tones  which  certain  specific  vibrations  produce. 

Music  begins  after  the  rhythmic  motion  takes 
place.  The  interval  of  time  between  the  sensible 
impression  and  the  mental  state  or  action  awakened 
by  it  is  not  beyond  computation.  Science  is  a  new 
word  of  God  which  pierces  even  to  the  dividing 


36  GODANDMUSIC 

asunder  of  soul  and  spirit,  that  is,  the  faculty  which 
perceives  and  judges  by  sense  and  the  higher  spirit- 
ual faculty.  Psychometrical  demonstration  will 
perhaps  be  equal  to  the  problem. 

Think  what  music  means  to  the  human  soul,  and 
what  it  can  do.  It  cannot  be  a  soulless  form  of 
physical  energy,  nor  a  remarkable  result  of  me- 
chanical evolution,  the  sole  function  of  which  is  to 
titillate  the  nerves.  It  is  a  vibrant  door  opening 
into  the  infinite.  It  is  a  Marconi  system  of  com- 
munication between  spiritual  beings.  God  himself 
is  immanent  in  it,  modulates  it  by  his  law-ordered 
forces,  speaks  through  it  to  his  children. 

Carlyle's  rugged  nature  was  sensitive  as  an 
iEolian  harp  to  the  significance  and  power  of  this 
inter-spiritual  language.  He  says  of  it,  "  The 
meaning  of  music  goes  deep.  A  kind  of  inarticu- 
late, unfathomable  speech  which  leads  us  to  the 
edge  of  the  infinite  and  lets  us  for  a  moment  gaze 
into  that."  Bacon  touched  the  common  under- 
standing more  nearly  when,  after  saying  that  sound 
is  "  one  of  the  subtilest  pieces  of  nature,"  he  wrote : 
"  Tunes  and  airs  have  in  themselves  some  aflfinity 
with  the  affections,  as  merry  tunes,  solemn  tunes, 


WHATISMUSIC?  S7 

tunes  inclining  men's  minds  to  pity,  warlike  tunes  ; 
so  as  it  is  no  marvel  if  they  alter  the  spirit,  consid- 
ering that  tunes  bear  a  predisposition  to  the  motion 
of  the  spirit." 

It  is  this  capacity  to  express  and  reproduce  the 
spiritual  moods  of  men  that  gives  music  right  to  be 
called  a  fme  art.  One  of  the  clearest  seeing  teach- 
ers of  our  time  has  stated  its  claim  to  this  rank  in 
these  words :  "  We  have  not  only  a  mortal  body, 
with  wants,  in  the  supplying  of  which  coarse  and 
temporary  contrivances,  as  arbitrary  words,  are  well 
enough ;  but  we  also  have  an  enduring  spirit  with 
lasting  emotions,  and  these  emotions,  which  belong 
to  the  nature  of  spirit,  have  specific  sounds  which 
are  their  natural  expression.  And  here  arises 
music,  the  eldest  if  not  the  divinest  of  fine 
arts." 

The  body,  even  in  its  finest  functions,  is  not  the 
man.  Nor  is  man  all  reason,  nor  life  all  drudgery. 
The  lower  animals  never  play.  In  hugi^n  life  the 
play  Jnstinct  is  the  root  of  art.  The  overflowing 
joy  of  beauty  is  a  divine  benison.  Music  is  a  seem- 
ing reminiscence  of  heaven,  sent  to  draw  men 
thither  again. 


38  GOD   AND   MUSIC 

"  It  is  the  last  appeal  to  man  — 
Voice  crying  since  the  world  began ; 
The  cry  of  the  Ideal,  cry 
To  aspirations  that  would  die  : 
The  last  appeal,  in  it  is  heard 
The  pathos  of  the  final  word." 

The  songs  of  a  people  keep  alive  their  spiritual 
sensibility.  They  cheer,  inspire,  comfort,  refine, 
elevate.  They  furnish  atmosphere  and  wings  by 
which  mortals  can,  for  a  little,  get  almost  free  of 
matter,  and  rise  into  the  region  of  pure  beauty. 
By  the  aid  of  music  they  are  thus  lifted,  if  they 
will,  nearer  God ;  or,  alas,  it  may  only  raise  them 
from  earth  just  enough  to  have  freedom  and  excita- 
tion for  the  evil  that  clings  to  the  baser  nature. 
Song,  we  may  believe,  was  one  of  the  pure  joys  of 
Eden,  but  the  race  of  Cain,  the  Bible  story  runs, 
soon  got  hold  of  music  in  its  mechanical  form,  for 
the  earliest  bit  of  recorded  art-history  is  the  item 
that  Tubal  Cain  was  father  to  those  that  handle  the 
organ,  or,  more  exactly,  the  Pan's  pipe. 

In  simplest  definition,  music  is  rhythmical  sound 
used  as  a  means  of  expression.  What  it  expresses 
is  first  in  the  soul  from  which  it  flows.  \  It  takes  the 


WHATISMUSIC?  39 

color  of  the  soul's  atmosphere.  As  an  art  it  is  not 
found  in  nature,  but  belongs  to  the  ear,  the  brain, 
and  the  spirit  of  man.  Nature  gives  only  sound  of 
which  to  make  music.  It  is,  therefore,  a  human 
art  for  the  expression  of  the  spiritual  in  mai^  In 
its  primitive  form,  as  in  drum  worship  and  the  early 
religious  use  of  bells,  music  was  really  a  naive 
attempt  to  ihterview  the  invisible  spirits  supposed 
to  reside  within  them,  which  responded  by  rhyth- 
mical and  more  or  less  melodious  sounds.  The 
ascent  from  a  crude,  animistic  essay  at  communion 
with  the  spiritual  world  to  the  Veni  Spiritus, 
Bernard's  celestial  song,  Bach's  Passion  Music,  or 
the  best  hymns  of  Wesley  and  Faber  in  fitting 
musical  expression,  marks  the  course  of  man's 
religious  growth.  In  sacred  music  he  utters  the' 
highest  that  is  in  him,  and  aspires  after  that  which 
is  far  higher. 

The  provision  in  nature  for  music  is  doubtless 
universal.  The  musical  capacity  of  sentient  be- 
ings is  well-nigh  the  same,  and  increases  the  higher 
in  the  scale  they  are  found.  This  fact  indicates  a 
Creator  who  possesses  the  love  of  music  to  a  degree 


40  GODANDMUSIC 

as  yet  but  little  recognized,  and  who  reveals  himself 
in  both  the  actual  and  the  potential  music  of  the 
universe  as  a  God  of  harmony.  The  visible  heavens 
gave  Napoleon  his  readiest  argument  with  which  to 
answer  the  atheistic  queries  of  infidel  comrades. 
Could  we  hear  the  music  of  the  spheres  in  their 
rhythmic  round,  we  should  have  potent  proof  not 
only  of  the  Creator's  existence  but  also  of  his  char- 
acteristic qualities.  Were  our  ears  finely  enough 
attuned  to  perceive  the  melodic  sounds  which  con- 
tinually fill  the  air  about  us,  but  fail  to  break 
through  the  barrier  of  our  half-developed  sense 
of  hearing,  we  should  have  evidence  of  Deity  in 
heaven  and  on  earth  as  cogent  as  any  the  visible 
universe  can  furnish,  and  perhaps  more  appealing 
to  the  spiritual  sensibility. 

It  is  impossible  but  that  such  a  Being  delights  in 
this  multiform  and  most  spiritual  mode  of  self- 
expression.  In  nature  we  catch  a  whispered  hint 
of  this  bias.  In  the  soul  of  man  and  the  history  of 
the  human  art  of  music  we  discern  in  greater 
measure  and  clearness  similar  indications  of  pro- 
gressive self-revelation  on  God's  part.  But  art  has 
visions   and   ideals  beyond  the  power  or  present 


WHAT   IS   MUSIC?  41 

need  to  express  by  any  known  means.  The  com- 
poser often  feels,  as  one  greatly  gifted  says  in  a 
private  letter,  "  like  a  blind  man  writing  in  a  frame. 
I  look  forward  to  the  life  where  free,  at  last,  I  can 
develop  my  rainbow  dreams  of  ideal  music  in  mi- 
nute gradations  of  sound,  and  not  have  to  throw 
on  my  colors  with  a  house-painter's  brush." 

The  motive  force  of  art  is  the  radiant  beauty  of 
the  ideal,  whether  of  things  seen  or  things  heard. 
The  spirit  of  the  artist  sees  or  hears  what  is  to  him 
absolute  beauty  in  definite  form.  The  real  reve- 
lation is  to  the  spirit.  The  essential  fact  is  "  neither 
sound  nor  star,"  but  something  which  eye  or  ear 
conveys  to  the  brain  and  its  invisible  tenant.  To 
God  the  ideal  is  real.  The  divine  Mind  sees  every 
possible  form  of  truth  and  beauty  in  direct,  all- 
comprehending  vision.  The  absolute  music  is  a 
manifold  fact  to  the  absolute  Mind.  Moments  of 
inspiration  give  to  artists  a  brief  flash  of  this 
supernal  experience.  In  their  highest  creative 
moods,  refractions  of  the  essential  beauty  fall  upon 
them.  The  great  composers  need  no  instrument  in 
working  out  the  strains  which  break  upon  their 
inner  ear  at  such  times.     Shall  not  God  hear  his 


42  GOD   AND   MUSIC 

own  intuitions  of  divine  melody  and  perfect  har- 
mony, of  which  he  drops  hints  into  prepared  and 
listening  souls  on  earth,  though  we  catch  but  the 
thrice-repeated  echoes  of  them  in  the  best  music 
ever  heard  by  man  ?  In  this  most  spiritual  of  all 
arts,  men  should  surely  seek  to  hear  more  truly,  and 
both  learn  and  repeat  more  exactly  what  God  would 
say  to  them  in  musical  tones  and  forms. 


MUSIC  IN  NATURE 


"  From  harmony,  from  heavenly  harmony 
This  universal  frame  began ; 
"When  Nature  underneath  a  heap 

Of  jarring  atoms  lay. 
*  »  *  »  * 

"The  diapason  closing  full  in  man." 

— Dryden. 
"  Music  is  in  all  growing  things; 
And  underneath  the  silky  wings 
Of  smallest  insects  there  is  stirred 
A  pulse  of  air  that  must  be  heard ; 
Earth's  silence  lives,  and  throbs,  and  sings." 

— Lathrop. 

"  I  say  that  music  is  an  art  woven  from  the  very  bowels  of 
Nature." — Balzac. 


CHAPTER  III 

MUSIC   IN   NATURE 

If  there  be  a  God,  personal  Creator  of  all  else 
that  is,  and  so  the  Master  Musician,  it  would  seem 
inevitable  that  some  clear  indication  of  his  tonal 
thought  and  feeling  would  be  found  in  nature. 
The  term  nature  is  to  be  taken  as  meaning  the 
whole  constitution  of  things  and  minds  in  ordinary 
relations  of  cause  and  effect  Whether  the  human 
will  is  an  agent  above  nature,  and  whether  the 
divine  will  ever  visibly  works  in  a  supernatural 
way,  need  not  concern  the  present  discussion.  If 
in  every-day  nature,  including  the  body  and  mind 
of  man,  there  is  universal  provision  for  the  art  of 
music,  with  leading  hints  toward  its  development, 
it  is  fair  to  infer  the  purpose  and  agency  of  a 
music-loving  Creator.  The  world  of  light  and 
color  reveals  a  Being  who  rejoices  in  visible  beauty. 
The  heavens  declare  his  glory  to  the  eye.  Their 
audible  evidence  of  his  love  of  melody  and  har- 
45 


46  GOD  AND   MUSIC 

mony  is  not  yet  within  reach  of  human  hearing, 
but  the  oneness  of  creation  would  give  to  terres- 
trial music  universal  value  as  "proof  that  the  same 
Creator  is  God  also  of  auricular  beauty. 

Even  the  inorganic  world  affords  tonal  evidence 
of  the  universal  sway  of  the  Spirit  of  music.  The 
rolling  sand  on  the  slope  of  a  Sinaitic  mountain,  so 
a  traveller  reports,  sends  out  a  deep,  swelling,  vibra- 
tory sound,  sometimes  approaching  the  roar  of 
thunder,  sometimes  like  the  deeper  notes  of  a 
violincello,  or  the  musical  whir  of  a  humming-top. 
Memnon  daily  intoned  a  morning  hymn  when  the 
^rising  sun  touched  and  heated  the  cold  marble. 
"  Everything  that  the  sun  shines  upon,"  says  Bush- 
nell,  "  sings  or  can  be  made  to  sing,  and  can  be 
heard  to  sing.  Gases,  impalpable  powders,  and 
woolen  stuffs,  in  common  with  other  non-conduc- 
tors of  sound,  give  forth  notes  of  different  pitches 
when  played  upon  by  an  intermittent  beam  of  white 
light.  Colored  stuffs  will  sing  in  lights  of  different 
colors,  but  refuse  to  sing  in  others.  The  polariza- 
tion of  light  being  now  accomplished,  light  and 
sound  are  known  to  be  alike."  Flames  have  a 
modulated   voice,  and   in   the  pyrophone  can  be 


MUSIC   IN   NATURE  47 

made  to  sing  a  definite  melody.  Wood,  stone, 
metal,  skins,  fibres,  membranes,  every  rapidly 
vibrating  substance,  all  have  in  them  the  poten- 
tiality of  musical  sound.  Matter  thus  declares  a 
spiritual  origin  and  intent. 

All  the  musical  possibiUties  of  wood,  brass,  vel- 
lum, and  the  resounding  air  were  hidden  in  their 
substance  from  the  beginning.  Man  cannot  make 
a  musical  instrument  of  anything  not  foreordained 
to  such  use.  Nor  can  he  create  harmony  by  any 
device  except  according  to  laws  of  sound  which  he 
did  not  establish.  *•  Or,"  to  quote  Bushnell  again, 
"  if  it  still  seems  incredible  that  the  soul  of  music 
is  in  the  heart  of  all  created  being,  then  the  laws 
of  harmony  themselves  shall  answer,  one  string 
vibrating  to  another  when  it  is  not  struck  itself, 
and  uttering  its  voice  of  concord  simply  because 
the  concord  is  in  it,  and  it  feels  the  pulses  on  the 
air  to  which  it  cannot  be  silent."  The  very  echoes 
tossed  to  and  fro  among  the  mountains  in  melo- 
dious tones  testify  that  the  framework  of  the  earth, 
with  the  resilient  atmosphere,  is  a  mighty  instru- 
ment of  music.  The  exquisite  echo  under  the 
dome  of  the  baptistery  at  Pisa  carries  a  full  chord 


y 


48  GODANDMUSIC 

in  ravishing  sweetness,  and  holds  it  long  in  a  slowly 
"  dying  fall,"  as  though  it  were  a  refrain  from  an 
angelic  choir  loath  to  withdraw  the  heavenly  sound 
from  weary-hearted  mortals.  The  shells  by  every 
sea  murmur  continuously  with  a  musical  secret  of 
their  own,  telling  of  the  universal  harmony. 

Everything  in  nature  seems  keyed  to  take  its 
part  in  the  cosmic  symphony.  The  composite  key- 
note of  external  nature  is  middle  F,  which  the 
Chinese  claim  to  have  discovered  five  thousand 
years  ago  as  the  root-tone  called  Kung,  from 
which  all  others  sprang.  This  tone  is  heard,  ac- 
cording to  Silliman,  in  the  roar  of  a  distant  city, 
and  in  the  waving  foliage  of  a  large  forest,  as  it  is 
also  in  the  thunder  of  a  railroad  train  rushing  over 
a  bridge  or  through  a  tunnel.  The  Coliseum  has 
its  key-note,  as  does  every  soHd  structure;  a  fact 
which  has  intimated  a  possible  cause  for  the  down- 
fall of  the  walls  of  Jericho,  when  the  procession  of 
priestly  trumpeters  during  the  seven  days'  circuit 
may  have  struck  the  key-note  of  at  least  some  por- 
tion of  them.  It  is  well  known  that  a  bell-tower 
will  sway  responsively  to  a  peal  of  bells  harmoni- 
ously tuned  and  struck,  when  a  discordant  clangor. 


MUSIC   IN   NATURE  49 

like  the  broken  step  of  soldiers  upon  a  bridge,  has 
no  such  disturbing  effect.  This  vibrant  sympathy 
between  architectural  masses  and  correlative  air- 
waves has  suggested  a  poetic  parallel  illustrating 
the  power  and  beauty  of  ethical  harmony. 


1/ 


'•  He  who,  with  bold  and  skillful  hand  sweep*  o'er 
The  organ  keys  of  some  cathedral  pile, 
I  /       Flooding  with  music  vault  and  nave  and  aisle, 
While  on  his  ear  falls  but  a  thunderous  roar  — 
In  the  composer's  lofty  motive  free. 
Knows  well  that  all  that  temple  vast  and  dim. 
Thrills  to  its  base  with  anthem,  psalm,  or  hymn. 
True  to  the  changeless  laws  of  harmony. 
So  he,  who  on  the  changing  chords  of  life, 
With  firm,  sweet  touch  plays  the  great  Master's  score, 
Of  Truth  and  Love  and  Duty,  evermore, 
Knows,  too,  that  far  beyond  this  roar  and  strife. 
Though  he  may  never  hear,  in  the  true  time 
These  notes  must  all  accord  in  symphonies  sublime." 

Animate  creation,  as  a  whole,  is  endowed  with 
power  to  produce  musical  sounds  at  will,  attaining 
in  the  race  of  man  the  ability  to  create  a  distinct 
art.  A  book  of  considerable  note  a  generation  or 
two  ago  was  entitled,  '•  The  Music  of  Nature." 
There  is  no  "  music  "  of  nature.  But  all  music  is 
potential  in  nature,  waiting  to  be  evolved  by  hu- 
man intelligence.     God  has  given  man  the  material 


50  GODANDMUSIC 

of  sound  to  be  made  into  melody  and  harmony ; 
but  he  has  furnished  him  with  much  more  than 
ready-made  sounds.  In  the  constitution  of  the 
universe  the  whole  art  of  music  is  latent,  ready  to 
be  developed.  "  See  deep  enough,"  as  Carlyle  saw  \ 
and  wrote,  "  and  you  will  see  musically,  the  heart 
of  nature  being  everywhere  music,  if  you  can  only  | 
reach  it." 

Rhythm  is  the  first  law  of  the  physical  crea- 
tion. It  long  ruled  the  inchoate  music  of  prime- 
val man  as  with  a  rod  of  iron.  Melody  came  next, 
subject  to  the  inevitable  law  of  rhythmic  pulsation, 
but  rising  upon  new-found  pinions  into  a  region  of 
free  spirit.  Harmony  was  latest  gained,  born  of 
Christianity,  and  come  to  full  stature  under  the 
tutelage  of  modern  science,  also  foster-child  of 
Christian  culture. 

Among  the  animals  and  in  the  rudimentary 
stages  of  aesthetic  development  harmony  is  un- 
known, and  melody  exceedingly  limited.  But 
euphonious  sounds,  the  warp  and  woof  of  music, 
abound  throughout  nature  in  manifold  excellence. 
Inarticulate  sounds  and  cries  may  have  given  the 
first  hint  of  vocalized  expression  to  the  untutored 


MUSIC   IN   NATURE  51 

mind  of  man.  Bird  songs  are  rightly  enough  so 
called  by  analogy,  though  they  have  little  of  the 
rational  and  none  of  the  spiritual  character  of 
human  song.  They  early  filled  the  air  with  de- 
licious foretokenings  of  true  melody,  suggesting, 
provoking,  and  refining  the  attempts  of  primitive 
man  at  vocal  expression  of  mood  and  feeling.  The 
cries  of  beasts,  the  songs  of  birds,  insect  chantings, 
the  diapason  of  wind  and  wave,  and  more  mechanical 
sounds,  all  did  their  part  in  evoking  and  training 
the  musical  faculty.  More  perfect  notes,  perhaps, 
are  uttered  by  feathered  throats  than  by  human 
voice  or  instrument,  but  the  euphonious  tones  of 
bird  and  beast  are  not  "  music."  They  show  a 
certain  range  of  sympathetic  emotion,  yet  are  re- 
sultant rather  than  purposed  and  free,  reactive  not 
creative.  Similar  conditions  educe  similar  tones 
among  the  same  species  from  age  to  age.  Barn- 
yard fowls  have  twenty  or  more  notes  substantially 
identical  with  those  of  chanticleers  who  crowed 
countless  generations  ago.  Birds  of  the  air  have  a 
much  wider  range  of  both  routine  and  sympathetic 
notes  instinctively  repeated  by  the  same  species 
through  summers  without  end.     Darwin's  gibbon 


52  GODANDMUSIC 

could  sound  the  notes  of  the  diatonic  scale,  and 
Haeckel  found  that  family  doing  the  same  during 
his  recent  scientific  tour  in  Java. 

We  have  something  to  learn  from  our  musical 
kindred  and  forerunners,  both  artistically  and  theo- 
logically, as  well  as  scientifically.  Lucretius  gives 
them  precedence  in  time  and  skill : 

«  With  voice  to  imitate  the  song  of  birds 
Was  earlier  practiced  than  to  soothe  the  ear 
With  measured  chant  of  modulated  verse." 

Longfellow,  the  Christian  poet,  hears  in  their  pure 
lays  a  voice  calling  upward : 

"  Whose  household  words  are  songs  in  many  keys, 
Sweeter  than  instrument  of  man  e'er  caught ; 
Whose  habitations  in  the  tree-top  even 
Are  halfway  houses  on  the  way  to  heaven." 

"  Birds,"  wrote  a  musician  of  a  century  ago, 
"  were  assuredly  the  most  ancient  music-masters. 
And  even  to  this  day,  with  all  our  boasted  refine- 
ment, all  our  natural  and  artificial  exertions,  who 
will  be  bold  enough  to  assert  that  either  Mrs. 
Billington,  the  delight  of  the  present  age,  or 
Farinelli,   the    admiration    of   the    las^,   ever   ap- 


MUSIC   IN   NATURE  53 

proached  the  excellence  of  these  instinctive  mu- 
sicians, either  in  fertility  of  imagination,  in  the 
brilliancy  of  their  shake,  or  in  neatness  of  execu- 
tion ? "  Darwin  depreciated  music  as  an  art,  but 
was  impressed  with  its  salient  place  in  the  system 
of  nature.  In  his  characteristic  style  as  a  thought- 
ful observer,  he  remarks,  "  I  have  often  reflected 
with  surprise  on  the  diversity  of  the  means  for 
producing  music  with  insects,  and  still  more  with 
birds.  We  thus  get  a  high  idea  of  the  importance 
of  song  in  the  animal  kingdom."  One  evidence  of 
this  prominence  of  music  in  the  scheme  of  animated 
nature  is  adverted  to  by  Dr.  Jenner,  who  notes 
"  the  beautiful  propriety  in  which  singing  birds  fill 
up  the  day  with  their  pleasing  harmony.  The 
accordance  with  the  aspect  of  nature  at  the  succes- 
sive periods  of  the  day  at  which  they  sing,  is  so  re- 
markable that  we  cannot  but  suppose  it  to  be  the 
result  of  benevolent  design." 

The  race  of  singing  birds  approaches  man  most 
nearly  in  melodic  capability.  Of  the  entire  animal 
kingdom  "  man  and  bird  are  the  only  creatures  that 
use  separate  notes  of  determinate  pitch  in  their 
music."     And  birds  alone  in  that  kingdom  below 


54  GOD  AND   MUSIC 

man  can  be  taught  to  reproduce  human  melodies. 
In  fact,  they  anticipated  mankind  in  the  acquire- 
ment of  exquisite  musical  tones,  and  in  the  develop- 
ment of  certain  elementary  forms  of  melodic 
structure.  It  has  commonly  been  denied  that  they 
use  the  intervals  of  the  diatonic  scale.  But  a  little 
trained  attention  will  show  that  they  do  employ 
them.  Mr.  Henry  W.  Oldys,  of  the  United  States 
Biological  Survey,  claims  that,  besides  the  recog- 
nized thirds  of  the  cuckoo,  many  other  birds  use 
that  and  other  diatonic  intervals  as  correctly  as  the 
average  human  voice.  He  instances  among  others 
j  ithe  Carolina  wren,  the  song-sparrow,  field-sparrow, 
I  (chickadee,  wood-thrush,  chewink,  wood-pewee, 
tufted  titmouse,  blue-gray  gnatcatcher,  and  robin. 
Not  only  in  the  use  of  approximately  accurate  in- 
tervals, but  also  in  the  employment  of  exact 
metronome  rhythms,  simple  melodic  phrase-forms, 
and  the  antiphonal  method,  birds  exhibit  what  he 
regards  as  true  avian  music.  Applying  the  prin- 
ciple of  universal  evolutionary  development,  this 
expert  observer  affirms  that  "  there  is  striking  evi- 
dence that  the  evolution  of  bird  music  has  paralleled 
the  evolution  of  human  music,  and  that  both  are 


MUSIC   IN   NATURE  55 

tending  to  the  same  ideal."  It  can  only  be  re- 
marked as  to  this  suggestive  theory,  that  birds 
seem  to  have  attained  the  average  of  their  musical 
acquirements  in  unknown  prehistoric  times,  and 
have  neither  evolved  a  scientific  system  of  musical 
tones  and  forms,  nor  arrived  at  a  definite  expression 
of  psychical  states,  much  less  of  spiritual  concepts, 
such  as  that  of  the  purposed  praise  of  a  recognized 
Creator  and  Benefactor.  Of  course,  whenever  the 
lark  and  the  vireo  are  able  to  tell  their  psychic 
story  in  language  intelligible  to  man,  we  shall  make 
needed  additions  to  our  philosophy,  and  to  our  the- 
ology as  well.  But  till  then  we  must  suppose  that, 
hke  the  animal  wisdom  of  Brer  Rabbit  and  Mowgli, 
the  aesthetics  and  rationale  of  bird  lore  are  refrac- 
tions of  human  thought. 

The  argument  for  the  foundation  of  the  diatonic 
scale  in  nature  has  no  little  support  from  the  records 
of  bird  song  made  by  many  competent  musicians. 
S.  P.  Cheney's  "  Wood-notes  Wild  "  is  full  of  data 
of  this  kind,  derived  from  the  author's  observations, 
and  from  many  other  sources.  A  single  example 
may  be  cited  from  the  appendix  to  that  work.  It 
consists  of  a  quotation  from  Xenas  Clark's  "  Animal 


56  GODANDMUSIC 

Music;   Its  Nature  and  Origin." — American  Nat- 
uralist, April,  1879. 

"  The  perfect  fifths,  fourths,  thirds,  and  octaves 
have  a  marked  predominance  (in  bird  songs),  their 
proportion  of  the  whole  number  being  respectively 
twenty-seven  per  cent.,  twenty-five  per  cent., 
twenty-six  per  cent.,  and  nine  per  cent.  ;  or,  taken 
all  four  together,  eighty-seven  per  cent.,  as  against 
thirteen  per  cent,  of  the  remaining  five  intervals.  All 
the  intervals  of  the  diatonic  and  harmonic  scales  are 
used  by  the  birds  ;  but,  as  Sully  has  observed,  the 
natural  sequences  illustrated  in  their  songs  are  those 
suggested  by  the  upper  tones,  or  partials,  associated 
with  the  fundamental  notes.  This  fact  argues  for 
the  natural  origin  of  our  chief  accepted  scale 
relations." 

Man  has  a  distinctly  musical  nature,  but  does  not, 
like  the  humbler  vocalists,  inherit  a  quasi-musical 
repertoire.  Greatly  inferior  to  many  of  the  lower 
animals  as  to  some  points  of  structure  and  the  power 
to  do  certain  things,  he  must  call  upon  his  reason  to 
devise  tools  and  methods  to  more  than  supplement 
natural  deficiencies.     In  like  manner,  he  ^s  obliged 


MUSIC   IN    NATURE^ 57 

to  develop  and  use  his  rational  faculties  to  create 
the  art  and  science  of  music.  Alike  in  mechanical 
and  in  artistic  achievement  the  possession  of  reason 
and  a  spiritual  nature  gives  him  immense  superi- 
ority to  the  whole  irrational  creation.  His  natural 
inability  is  the  privative  condition  of  his  artistic 
royalty. 

Nevertheless,  the  human  organism  is  specially 
fitted  for  a  musical  career.  Brain,  nerves,  ear, 
throat,  and  hand  are  marvellously  fashioned  and 
correlated  to  produce  true  music,  as  it  is  conceived 
only  by  the  infinitely  more  wonderful  mind  that 
also  directs  the  orchestral  organs  and  members  of 
the  individual  musician.  To  neither  of  these,  as 
adapted  to  this  purpose,  can  the  whole  brute  world 
furnish  an  equal.  A  later  chapter  will  describe 
more  particularly  the  provision  thus  made  for  the 
actualizing  of  musical  conceptions  belonging  to 
man  alone  in  either  origination  or  execution. 

Endowed  with  organs  of  incomparable  capacity 
and  delicacy  for  perceiving  and  producing  musical 
sounds,  and  possessing  unique  aesthetic  sensibilities 
and  rational  intelligence,  man  finds  in  nature  the 
means  for  creating  true,  expressional  music.     He 


58  GODANDMUSIC 

discovers  that  the  process  is  governed  by  laws  that 
are  a  part  of  nature,  to  which  his  own  faculties 
correspond,  and  which  are  an  integral  part  of  the 
interwoven  laws  of  the  universe.  Knowing  nothing 
for  ages  of  vibrational  ratios,  he  finds  that  the  tones 
which  combine  to  make  his  music  form  a  sym- 
metrical series,  easily  recognized  by  all  who  have 
the  musical  sense.  His  first  attempts  to  fix  the 
terms  of  this  series  in  regular  succession,  like  first 
steps  in  every  art  or  science,  are  limited  and  incom- 
plete. For  thousands  of  years  the  world,  for  the 
most  part,  hobbled  in  scales  of  four  or  five  tones. 
Egypt,  indeed,  in  times  practically  prehistoric,  dis- 
covered the  diatonic  scale.  Egyptian  flutes  of  3000 
B.  c.  have  been  unearthed  which  give  it  entire. 
Other  primitive  instruments  sound  the  diatonic 
intervals.  The  Peruvian  Harvest  Song  is  known 
from  the  archives  at  Lima  to  have  been  sung  in 
accordance  with  them  for  nearly  a  thousand  years. 
The  scale  of  Pythagoras  differed  from  the  diatonic 
comparatively  little.  Therefore,  the  common  be- 
lief that  our  scale  is  a  modern  invention  does  not 
hold  good.  It  required  centuries,  if  not  millenniums, 
to  rediscover  and  utilize  it  in  modern  music,  but 


MUSIC   IN   NATURE  59 

it  is  now  an  enduring  basis  of  both  melody  and 
harmony. 

Asiatics  use  scales  with  finer  tone  divisions  than 
the  Occidental,  so  that  to  the  Oriental  ear  our 
music  sounds  coarse  and  barbarous.  Theoretically, 
the  Persian  scale  is  the  most  perfect  ever  devised, 
but,  like  Chinese  and  Hindu  music,  that  of  Persia 
and  Arabia  lacks  dignity  and  intellectuality. 

The  diatonic  scale  is  not  a  sole  standard  fixed 
by  nature.  lis  ratios  have  varied  in  the  course  of 
its  development.  Yet  the  present  tonal  system  of 
equal  temperament,  as  settled  by  Bach,  so  well  cor- 
responds with  the  mathematical  and  xsthetic  de- 
mands of  the  art  that  it  may  be  said  in  a  general 
way  to  be  according  to  natural  order.  At  the  very 
least,  it  is  more  serviceable  than  any  other  system 
in  the  present  stage  of  musical  development.  It  is 
not  to  be  placed  in  the  same  category  with  lan- 
guage as  this  is  differentiated  among  races,  tribes, 
and  nations.  It  has  qualities  of  universality,  if  not 
the  character  of  finality. 

I  The  instincts  of  man.  Parry  remarks,  have  for 
thousands  of  years  sifted  and  tested  tone  intervals 
till  a  scale  has  been  decided  on  most  subtly  adapted 


W 


6o  GODANDMUSIC 

to  aesthetic  expression.  Results  approve  its  ex- 
cellence. Bach,  Beethoven,  Schumann,  Chopin, 
Wagner,  and  Brahms  have  not  vi^rought  out  almost 
celestial  music,  with  the  simple  acoustical  means  at 
their  command,  to  be  convicted  of  having  yoked 
their  genius  to  a  false  or  wholly  artificial  system. 
■V  Nature  gave  them  the  diatonic  and  chromatic  scales 
through  the  usual  method  of  evolution  by  human 
endeavor.  The  excellence  of  the  means  is  proved 
\  /  by  the  perfection  of  the  product.  An  ideally  tuned 
scale  is  probably  to  be  ranked  with  a  squared  circle 
or  the  philosopher's  stone. 

Nature  is  flexible  and  comprehensive.  Its  laws 
and  resources  are  intended  to  be  at  the  command 
of  reason.  Its  best  forms  and  most  valuable  results 
are  to  be  secured  by  investigation  and  invention. 
The  realm  of  acoustics  is  still  very  imperfectly 
known.  A  vast  field  of  audible  beauty  remains  to 
be  conquered.  Oriental  refinement  combined  with 
Western  science  and  initiative  will  probably  give 
the  world  new  and  marvellous  revelations  of  the 
possibilities  of  this  inexhaustible  art.  With  some 
six  hundred  perceptible  sounds  in  the  octave, 
musical  invention  is  not  within  sight  of  the  limits 


MUSIC   IN   NATURE  6i 

of  tonal  expression.  John  Stuart  Mill's  fear  was 
groundless  that  tlie  permutations  and  combinations 
of  the  twelve  diatonic  semitones  have  been  ap- 
proximately exhausted,  so  that  music  is  even  now 
an  outworn  art.  When  ordinary  trained  hearing 
shall  attain  the  delicate  perception  of  Asiatic  ears 
and  be  capable  of  identifying  quarter  and  even 
sixteenth  tones,  when  the  wonderful  range  of  in- 
flection exhibited  in  Chinese  speech  shall  be  repro- 
duced in  melodic  expression,  and  tlie  bounds  of 
harmony  correspondingly  extended,  what  may  not 
be  the  outcome  in  musical  achievement  ?  Modern 
music,  as  compared  with  the  best  known  to  He- 
brew and  Greek  culture,  exhibits  a  measure  of 
progress  not  unlike  that  involved  in  this  supposi- 
tion. 

But  there  is  in  nature  a  still  more  positive  indica- 
tion that  music,  as  men  make  and  enjoy  it,  is  an  art 
founded  on  universal  acoustics,  and  bearing  marks 
of  aesthetic  intention.  Musical  sounds  go  in  fam- 
ilies. Every  definite  tone  is  accompanied  by  a 
train  of  lesser  tones  extending  through  octave  after 
octave  in  exact  relations.     These  are  called  "  har- 


62  GODANDMUSIC 

monies,"  "  partials,"  or  "  overtones."  An  almost 
deaf  acoustician,  who  gave  the  name  acoustics  to 
•the  science  of  sound,  also  first  proposed  a  satisfac- 
tory explanation  of  them  two  hundred  years  ago. 
This  true  scientist,  Joseph  Sauveur,  wrote,  "  It 
seems  that  whenever  nature  makes  for  herself,  so  to 
speak,  a  musical  system,  she  employs  only  such 
sounds,"  namely,  as  these  which  attend  any  funda- 
mental note  at  definite  intervals.  Because  the  first 
six  notes  in  each  series,  including  the  prime,  are 
consonant,  the  overtones  were  formerly  called  nat- 
ural harmonics ;  but  since  inharmonic  tones  appear 
higher  up,  they  are  now  known  as  •'  upper  partials." 
They  embody  the  psychical  element  in  music. 
Given  by  nearly  all  sonorous  bodies,  they  abound 
most  in  the  human  voice,  and  are  numerous  in  the 
tones  of  the  violin,  siren,  and  bells,  while  flutes 
and  stopped  pipes  lack  them  almost  entirely. 
Quality  of  tone  depends  upon  the  number  and 
intensity  of  the  partials.  Theoretically  infinite  in 
number,  only  a  few  are  usually  perceived  by  even 
trained  ears.  Those  produced  by  the  lower  vibra- 
tion rates  give  to  music  solemn,  majestic,  or  mourn- 
ful effects.     The  middle  overtones  are  less  emo- 


MUSIC   IN   NATURE  63 

tional  in  character.  Partials  of  high  vibration 
numbers  are  gay  and  joyous  in  the  quality  im- 
parted. Without  these  spirit-like  attendants  of 
musical  notes  all  voices  and  instruments  would  have 
the  same  quality,  becoming  monotonous  and  in- 
sipid. Even  the  vowels  in  common  speech  would 
sound  alike.  But  for  these  character-giving  tones, 
the  world  of  sound  would  be  tame  indeed.  The 
infinite  complexity  of  human  thought  and  feeling 
could  not  possibly  be  expressed  without  their  aid. 
Music  would  be  a  meagre,  superficial  art  of  nar- 
rowest limits  if  confined  to  bare  notes  of  simple 
vibration  rates.  In  a  universe  of  tonal  monotony, 
such  as  would  result  from  the  absence  of  the  di- 
versity and  enrichment  supplied  by  the  partials, 
the  question, "  How  shall  it  be  known  what  is  piped 
or  harped  ?  "  would  express  the  acoustic  fact.  It  is 
precisely  because  of  these  self-effacing,  echo  notes, 
that  there  are  "  so  many  kinds  of  voices  in  the 
world,  and  none  of  them  is  without  significance." 
Ministering  spirits  of  viewless  sound,  they  furnish 
the  endlessly  varied  coloring  of  music.  Its  limitless 
possibilities  of  spiritual  expression  reside  chiefly  in 
them.     The  modest,  seldom  recognized  partials  are 


64  GODANDMUSIC 

a  positive  indication  of  the  thought  and  providence 
of  a  musical  Mind  presiding  in  creation.^ 

The  same  laws  of  vibrant  sound  govern  the  notes 
of  the  human  voice  and  the  thunders  of  Niagara. 
The  ascending  series  of  overtones  is  said  to  be  found 
at  the  same  intervals  in  the  cataract's  awful  music 
as  in  the  softest  accents  of  a  child  or  of  a  prima 
donna.  The  predominant  note  of  Niagara,  Eugene 
Thayer  decided,  is  exactly  that  which  would  be 
produced  by  an  organ  pipe  one  hundred  and  sixty 
feet  high  and  of  proportionate  diameter.  Its  beat 
is  in  triplets  with  an  accent  on  the  third,  ninth,  and 

^  The  newer  theory  of  the  action  of  the  vocal  cords,  which  i»  as- 
serted to  do  away  with  the  system  of  overtone  resonance  as  de- 
veloped by  Helmholtz,  would  not  interfere  with  the  essential  force 
of  the  argument  thus  far  advanced.  Overtones  do  exist  in  the 
acoustic  world,  as  is  demonstrated  by  the  resonator,  and  verified 
by  acute  hearing.  Whether  the  specific  quality  of  vocalized  breath 
is  directly  produced  by  the  action  of  the  vocal  cords  modified  by 
the  air  cavities  through  or  near  which  the  breath  passes,  or  is  more 
immediately  caused  by  infinitesimal  puffs  of  air  rushing  through 
the  passage  between  the  vocal  cords,  it  does  not  make  the  sense  of 
wonder  or  of  purpose  any  less,  when  we  contemplate  the  voice  as 
the  organ  of  expression  for  an  infinite  range  of  psychical  events  and 
experiences.  Air  waves  mediately  do  the  whole  work.  The 
physiologists  must  decide  how  they  do  it,  and  any  advance  in 
scientific  knowledge  which  they  can  contribute  will  be  undoubted 
gain  for  musical  art,  for  philosophy,  and  for  theology.  . 


MUSIC   IN   NATURE  65 

twenty-seventh  throb.  The  seventh  partial,  giving 
the  interval  of  the  tenth,  he  found  more  clear  and 
powerful  than  it  is  usually  heard  in  the  organ,  and 
he  said,  "  Were  the  tone  of  Niagara  a  mere  noise, 
this  seventh  note  would  be  cither  weak,  or  confused, 
or  absent  altogether."  He  was  quite  certain  that 
"  the  musical  tone  of  the  Falls  is  clear,  definite,  and 
unapproachable  in  its  majestic  perfection,  a  com- 
plete series  of  notes  all  uniting  in  grand  and  noble 
unison."  To  verify  this  opinion  would  require  a 
quite  exceptional  sense  of  "  absolute  pitch,"  and  of 
analytic  hearing.  Yet  the  impressions  of  this  skill- 
ful organist  were  in  the  hne  of  nature's  constitution 
and  habit. 

The  same  allied  notes  may  be  heard  in  the  hu- 
man voice,  some  of  them,  by  keen  attention,  with- 
out the  aid  of  a  resonator.  Seiler  perceived  in  the 
voice  of  a  night  watchman  at  Leipsic,  first  the 
third  partial,  and  then  the  prime.  Garcia  could 
hear  in  a  still  night  both  the  octave  and  the  twelfth 
of  the  note  he  sang.  In  relating  this,  Zahm  adds, 
"  I  have  heard  the  same  two  partials  in  the  voice  of 
a  muezzin  at  Cairo  calling  the  faithful  to  prayer. 
He  had  a  remarkably  powerful,  rich  voice,  the  night 


66  GOD  AND   MUSIC 

was  unusually  still,  and  the  minaret  on  which  stood 
the  servant  of  the  Prophet  was  only  a  short  distance 
away  from  me."  Must  it  not  be  that  the  same 
Creator  who  fixed  the  laws  of  sound  in  the  very 
heart  of  nature,  also  tuned  the  mighty  organ  of 
the  cataract,  gave  to  every  creature  a  distinctive 
voice,  and  formed  the  mind  of  man  to  comprehend 
and  enjoy  his  perfect  work  ?  "  Our  beautiful  art  of 
music,"  Schumann  once  wrote,  "  never  deceives  us. 
It  is  the  same  throughout  the  universe." 

The  first  five  partials  contain  the  major  triad,  the 
foundation  of  harmony.  Most  of  the  higher  partials 
repeat  the  same  intervals.  The  remainder  are  fee- 
bler and  more  or  less  dissonant,  but  add  brilliancy, 
richness,  and  variety  to  the  primary  tones.  Not 
only  do  they  vary  and  enrich  the  quality  of  their 
fundamentals,  but,  like  all  the  less  easily  organized 
elements  in  nature,  they  challenge  the  exercise  of 
reason  and  furnish  a  background  of  contrast. 
Euphony  and  harmony  are  fully  appreciated  only 
when  their  opposites  are  heard  or  suggested.  Dis- 
cord sharpens  the  perception  and  enjoyment  of 
concord.  Harsh  tones  and  crude  noises  in  which 
discordant  partials  abound,  stimulate  the  discrimi- 


MUSIC   IN   NATURE  67 

nating  and  inventive  faculties  to  reject  them,  or  to 
remedy  their  causes.  There  are  uses  in  things  at 
first  unpleasant,  which  human  intelligence  slowly 
discovers  to  its  profit.  Among  the  so-called  dis- 
sonant tones  are  musical  weeds,  the  tonal  value  of 
which  has  not  yet  been  learned.  The  third,  sixth, 
and  other  intervals  were  long  rejected,  but  add 
greatly  to  recognized  harmony.  The  sub-minor 
seventh  is  another  possible  addition  to  the  accumu- 
lating wealth  of  this  affluent  art. 

The  diatonic  scale  is  certainly  suggested  by  the 
ancillary  partials  that  play  so  important  a  role  in  the 
universe  of  sound.  The  eminent  French  theorist 
and  composer,  Rameau,  in  1722,  made  them  the 
basis  of  his  system  of  harmony.  Had  they  been 
earlier  known,  the  interval  of  the  major  third, 
supplied  by  the  fifth  partial,  and  called  the  greatest 
step  in  modern  musical  advance,  would  have  been 
utilized  and  enjoyed  long  before  the  twelfth  century, 
and  the  science  of  harmony  would  have  had  an 
earlier  birth. 

The  dissonant  partials  also  teach  the  trained  ear 
to  refuse  intervals,  such  as  11:13,  which  have  no 
possible  place  in  true  harmony.     The  subordinate 


68  GODANDMUSIC 

or  discordant  must  never  usurp  a  dominant  place  in 
any  art.  Harmony  is  not  an  arbitrary  thing.  It  is 
rational,  to  be  discovered  and  employed  by  reason, 
skill,  and  taste.  Helmholtz  even  combined  theoretic 
partials  successfully  to  produce  a  tone  of  determinate 
quality.  This  was  a  bit  of  creation,  proving  the 
likeness  of  the  human  mind  to  the  divine.  Thus 
science  is  born,  and  culture  grows. 

Music,  as  involved  in  nature,  is  objective,  ele- 
mentary, mechanical.  Innate  in  man,  and  evolved 
by  human  intelligence  and  effort,  it  is  subjective, 
intellectual,  purposed.  That  its  scientific  marvels 
and  aesthetic  beauty  are  the  chance  products  of 
purposeless  evolution,  let  him  believe  who  can. 
The  play  of  action  and  reaction  between  the  outer 
world  of  rhythmic  vibration  and  the  inner  world  of 
thought  and  feeling,  conditioned  by  states  of  brain 
and  nerve,  may  in  part  explain  the  development  of 
the  musical  sense.  But  that  so  complex  and 
beneficent  a  fact  of  universal  intelligence  acting 
through  matter  is  owing  to  mindless,  undirected 
force,  is  opposed  to  common  reason.  The  unity  of 
nature   and  its  musical  correlations  must,  on  full 


MUSIC    IN    NATURE  69 

consideration,  convince  the  candid  thinker  that  the 
God  of  nature  is  also  the  God  of  Music,  and  the 
Maker  and  Friend  of  Man. 


p 


WHEREFORE? 


"  If  God  speaks  anywhere,  in  any  voice, 
To  us  his  creatures,  surely  here  and  now 
We  hear  him,  while  the  great  chords  seem  to  bow 
Our  heads,  and  all  the  symphony's  breathless  noise 
Breaks  over  us,  with  challenge  to  our  souls  ! 
Beethoven's  music !     From  the  mountain  peaks 
The  strong,  divine,  compelling  thunder  rolls ; 
And  « Come  up  higher  ! '  the  words  it  speaks, 
'  Out  of  your  darkened  valleys  of  despair ; 
Behold,  I  lift  you  up  on  mighty  wings 
Into  Hope's  living,  reconciling  air ! 
Breathe,  and  forget  your  life's  perpetual  stings, — 
Dream,  folded  on  the  breast  of  Patience  sweet ; 
Some  pulse  of  pitying  love  for  you  may  beat.'  " 

— Celia  Thaxter. 


CHAPTER  IV 

WHEREFORE  ? 

In  a  cathedral  stands  a  majestic  organ,  in  a  home 
is  that  orchestra  in  epitome,  a  pianoforte,  and  on  a 
public  stage  are  found  a  variety  of  skillfully  shaped 
instruments  for  producing  sounds  of  differing  quality 
and  pitch, — why  ?  Surely,  not  for  no  definite  pur- 
pose, but  evidently  to  give  pleasure,  refreshment, 
mental  stimulus,  and  higher  inspiration. 

The  universe  is  fitted  up  with  every  conceivable 
means  for  producing  musical  sounds  and  the  com- 
plex of  them  called  music.  The  human  ear  and  brain 
are  marvellously  adapted  to  respond  to  its  almost 
unlimited  range  of  expressive  tones,  and  the  soul  of 
man  craves  the  spiritual  influence  with  which  music 
is  instinct.  Such  an  elaborate  preparation  in  both 
the  external  and  the  human  world  for  the  creation 
of  music  must  have  some  specific  reason,  if  reason 
is  anywhere  to  be  found  in  the  universe.  The 
purpose  of  music  may  be  learned  from  its  uses  and 
effects. 

73 


74  GODANDMUSIC 

J  It  has  to  do  immediately  with  that  semi-spiritual 
/  part  of  the  body,  the  nervous  system.  This  it 
either  stimulates  or  soothes.  Musical  sounds  affect 
the  nerve-centres  as  directly  as  the  most  active 
chemical  agents.  They  do  this  under  the  law  of 
contrasts,  which  Parry  calls  the  basis  of  art-form. 
When  a  group  of  faculties,  or  a  definite  region  of 
brain  tissue,  is  weary  with  the  appeal  made  by  the 
same  kind  of  sounds  or  of  colors,  it  is  the  business 
of  art  to  call  into  play  fresh  sensibilities  by  change 
of  tone,  form,  or  hue,  and  so  give  the  nerve  centres 
first  affected  time  to  recuperate.  The  mother's  lul- 
laby quiets  the  suffering  child.  The  brain-weary 
worker  finds  refreshing  for  mind  and  body  in  home 
music  or  the  strains  of  an  orchestra.  The  soldier 
or  sailor  is  nerved  for  battle  by  tunes  resonant  with 
patriotism.  A  worshipping  congregation  is  physic- 
ally impressed  and  often  spiritually  exalted  by  the 
organ's  lofty  peal.  The  immediate  effect  of  music 
is  far  greater  upon  savage  and  uncultivated  people 
than  upon  the  intellectually  refined ;  yet  tears,  ec- 
stasy, and  cataleptic  symptoms  are  not  infrequent 
among  persons  of  extreme  musical  sensitiveness,  in 
any  age  or  land.  ^^ 


WHEREFORE?  75 

Plato  rightly  said  tliat  music  was  not  given  to  men 
with  the  sole  view  of  pleasing  their  senses,  but  rather 
for  appeasing  the  troubles  of  their  souls.  The  anti- 
Platonic  philosopher,  Herbert  Spencer,  has  affirmed 
that  "  in  its  bearings  on  human  happiness  we  believe 
that  this  emotional  language  which  musical  lan- 
guage develops  and  refines,  is  only  second  in  im- 
portance to  the  language  of  the  intellect,  perhaps 
not  even  second  to  it."  A  thoughtful  American 
writer  considers  that  "  music  is  one  of  the  most  val- 
uable auxiliaries  in  the  work  of  human  civilization 
and  refinement,  preparing  the  heart  for  all  else  that 
is  beautiful,  opening  up  avenues  of  pleasure  in  other 
arts,  inspiring  a  quicker  sensibility  to  all  the  love- 
liness of  nature,  and  softening  our  feelings  to  one 
another." 

The  physical  and  mental  utilities  of  music  lie  on 
the  surface ;  its  real  function  is  spiritual.  It  has  al- 
ways been  associated  with  religion  and  religious 
worship.  It  is  stimulant  and  ministrant  to  the 
higher  part  of  human  nature.  George  Eliot's  poet- 
ical definition,  "  love  in  search  of  a  name,"  touched 
the  heart  of  the  truth,  for  love  is  the  dynamic  of 


76  GODANDMUSIC 

spirit.  It  is  of  the  very  nature  of  him  who  is  a 
Spirit,  and  seeks  in  his  children  spiritual  affinity  and 
response. 

None  could  know  better  the  real  purpose  and 
true  function  of  this  art  than  Sebastian  Bach,  great- 
est among  masters  for  knowledge  of  its  structure, 
and  among  the  highest  by  inspiration.  •'  Its  final 
cause,"  he  wrote,  "  is  none  other  than  this,  that  it 
ministers  solely  to  the  honor  of  God  and  refresh- 
ment of  the  spirit,  whereof,  if  one  take  not  heed,  it 
is  no  proper  music,  but  devilish  din  and  discord." 
The  Bach  family  were  consistent  to  this  high  con- 
ception of  the  art  for  which  they  lived  and  wrought. 
Their  festive  gatherings,  however  jovial,  always  be- 
gan with  a  chorale. 

Infidelity  has.  iiD  hymnQlogy.. Unbelief  in  spirit- 
ual realities  is  incompetent  to  produce  or  fully  to  un- 
derstand the  highest  order  of  music,  which  is  always 
religious  in  character,  if  not  in  immediate  purpose. 
This  incapacity  and  irresponsiveness  is  manifested 
by  men  of  all  degrees  of  culture  from  the  savage  to   / 
the  savant.     The  very  tribes  that  possess  no  definite  I 
idea  of  a  Supreme  Being  are  the  only  ones  destitute  I 
of  instrumental  music.     This  fact  is  probably  an  in-  ^ 


WHEREFORE?  77 

stance  of  reversion,  with  intellectual  degradation. 
The  earliest  cult,  by  the  theory  of  historic  evolution, 
was  that  of  drum  worship,  said  to  have  been  once 
universal,  in  which  men  attempted  converse  with  the 
spirit  world  by  using  instruments  of  percussion. 
The  spirit  imagined  to  dwell  inside  the  drum  spoke 
to  the  spirit  in  man  through  the  rhythmic  response 
of  the  instrument  to  the  questioning  strokes  of  the 
worshipper.  Fetichism  made  the  tom-tom,  the  gong, 
or  other  sounding  or  visible  object  of  worship  iden- 
tical with  the  indwelling  spirit ;  but  in  either  case 
the  origin  of  music,  as  of  religion,  was  intellectual, 
with  spiritual  implications.  When  living  belief  in 
the  reality  of  spirit  goes,  the  capacity  for  music  of 
spiritual  quality  and  meaning  soon  atrophies, 
whether  in  the  degraded  savage  or  in  civilized  man. 
Song  remains,  indeed,  when  worship  ceases,  the 
beauteous  Naclischein,  the  echo-like  afterglow,  of 
departed  religion.  In  music,  unspiritual  men  still 
express  emotions  too  deep  for  definite  speech.  Un- 
worded  music,  above  all  other  means  of  expression, 
is  "  the  language  of  the  ineffable."  Hence  it  is,  as 
Sabatier  remarks  in  his  "  Life  of  St.  Francis,"  that 
the  musical  ritual  which  is  sung  in  an   unknown 


78  GOD   AND    MUSIC 

tongue  often  has  upon  the  religiously  impressible 
an  effect  which  psalms  and  hymns  in  the  common 
tongue  never  have,  "  like  a  celestial  accompaniment 
which  follows  the  believer's  emotions,  from  the  most 
agonizing  struggles  to  the  most  unspeakable  ec- 
stasies." 

"  All  nations,"  said  Carlyle,  '•  that  can  listen  to 
the  mandates  of  nature  have  prized  music  as  their 
highest  vehicle  for  worship,  for  prophecy,  and  for 
whatsoever  in  them  was  divine."  This  is  the 
natural  order.  Sound  is  waiting  in  nature  to  be  \ 
wrought  into  notes  capable  of  loftiest  and  holiest 
meaning.  The  law  of  vibration  is  everywhere 
efficient,  in  solids,  liquids,  and  the  throbbing  air, 
ready  to  convert  sounds  obedient  to  its  infallible 
behest  into  melody  and  harmony.  The  ear  and 
brain  and  soul  of  man  are  eager  to  receive  and  re- 
spond to  these  messengers  of  the  spiritual  world. 
The  universal  sequence  is  this :  Music  proceeds 
from  creative  Mind,  is  latent  in  all  creation,  and, 
touching  the  responsive  spirit  in  man,  is  trans- 
formed into  praise.  Like  the  Egyptian  obelisks, 
which,  symbolically,  are  petrified  sunbeams  reflected 
heavenward  from  that  sun-worshipping  land,  the 


WHEREFORE?  79 

vocal  praise  of  uplooking  souls  is  simply  an  offer- 
ing to  God  of  his  own  rich  gift,  inscribed  with  the 
adoring  gratitude  of  men  whom  it  has  blessed. 

One  of  our  leaders  in  Christian  thought  demands 
music  for  religion,  "  because  it  is  the  creation  of 
God.  Into  everything  moulded  by  his  creative 
hands,  music  has  passed  from  God's  finger-tips.  I 
know  of  nothing  which  is  so  much  the  creation  of 
God  as  musia  Man  does  not  create  it ;  he  only 
finds  it  out.  Man  does  not  create  truth ;  he  only 
finds  it  out,  and  brings  it  into  his  life  as  a  purifying: 
power.  God  creates  truth.  Man  does  not  createi 
electricity ;  he  only  finds  it  out,  and  applies  it  to  his 
needs.  It  is  God  who  has  stored  the  universe  with 
electricity.  Now  music  is  as  much  the  creation  of 
God  as  is  truth  or  electricity.  God  has  put  music 
everywhere.  I  believe  that  the  very  core  and 
centre  of  God's  own  being  is  a  sweet  song  of  in- 
finite love."  No  wonder  that,  with  such  a  source 
and  such  a  soul  of  meaning,  music  has  been  from 
the  beginning  the  handmaid  of  religion,  or  that  its 
best  benison  is  denied  to  the  heart  without  God. 

The  spiritual  function  of  music  is  not  an  arbitrary 
office  imposed  upon  it  or  upon  man  by  omnipotent 


8o  GODANDMUSIC 

authority.  It  results  from  the  necessity  in  all  spir- 
itual beings  for  self-utterance,  and  from  the  supreme 
fitness  of  music  for  spiritual  expression.  God  him- 
self is  under  this  law.  Hence  the  universe.  Hence 
man's  religious  history.  Hence  the  Christ.  Man,  \ 
too,  made  in  the  spiritual  image  of  God  must  find  '* 
mediums  and  methods  of  expression  for  the  living 
spirit  within  him,  or  else  w^ither  and  perish  of  spir- 
itual inanition.  Upon  this  power  of  self-expression 
depends  the  active  element  of  love,  which  is  the 
very  life  of  both  God  and  man.  There  is  a  divine 
craving  to  bridge  the  void  between  spirit  and  spirit. 
God  has  uttered  himself,  in  part,  in  the  wonders  and 
beauties  of  nature.  All  arts  and  sciences  are  but 
stammering  efforts  of  human  minds  to  think  the 
Creator's  thoughts  after  him,  and  not  this  only,  but 
at  bottom  to  commune  with  the  inventive,  benefi- 
cent, teaching,  inspiring  Mind  at  the  centre  of  all 
that  is  good. 

That  created  minds  may  be  able  to  commune 
with  each  other  and  with  their  Maker,  God  has 
made  provision  for  various  means  of  mutual  expres- 
sion; cries,  sighs,  laughter,  words,  eye-glances, 
facial   and   bodily   movements,   telepathic    impres- 


WHEREFORE?  8l 

sions,  and,  among  manifold  arts,  the  earliest  known 
but  latest  developed,  music.  Civilization  narrows 
the  channels  of  human  intercourse  mainly  to  words, 
spoken  or  written,  and  more  and  more  to  printed 
symbols  of  thought.  But  it  compensates  for  its 
greater  poverty  of  other  means  of  expression  by 
opening  wider  and  wider  the  portals  of  intelligible 
and  soul-moving  sound.  Music  can  never  be  a 
universal  and  exclusive  language  for  men  in  their 
present  bodily  encasement  and  needs ;  but  it  has 
more  of  undeveloped  potentiality  of  spiritual  ex- 
pression than  any  other  art.  There  is  a  many- 
sided  possibility  of  spiritual  intercourse  by  means 
of  music  as  yet  little  known,  but  which  will  doubt- 
less be  the  possession  of  a  riper  culture. 


LAW   IN  MUSIC 


"  God — the  Mind  that  meditates  in  beauty,  and  speaks  in  law." 

— James  Martineau. 

"  Take  but  degree  away,  untune  that  string. 
And,  hark,  what  discord  follows !  " 

— Shakespeare, 

"  A  discord  of  sounds  is  unendurable,  but  we  can  hardly  say 
that  of  violations  of  form  and  color.  This  shows  that  we  are  more 
finely  related  to  the  laws  of  sound  than  to  those  of  form  and  color, 
and  that  the  relation  covers  a  wider  range  of  our  nature :  or,  in 
other  words,  that  music  is  a  better  type  of  obedience.  When  its 
laws  are  broken,  the  history  of  disobedience  is  written  out  in  the 
protests  of  our  whole  being — from  quivering  nerve  to  the  indigna- 
tion of  the  heart. 

"  The  musical  ear  recognizes  laws  for  which  no  scientific  basis 
is  yet  found.  In  the  tuning  of  any  stringed  instrument  certain  re- 
quirements of  the  ear  are  obeyed  for  which  no  reasons  can  be 
given ;  the  problem  is  too  subtle  even  for  Helmholtz — suggesting 
that  music  is  that  form  of  art  in  which  man  expresses  his  transcend- 
ence of  nature.  As  man  himself  reaches  beyond  the  -•"terial 
world  and  its  laws,  and  goes  over  into  another,  even  a  -^  '.al 
world,  so  music  is  the  art  that  lends  itself  to  this  feature  of  his  na- 
ture, going  along  with  it  and  opening  the  doors  as  it  mounts  into 
the  heavens." — T.  T.  MUNGER. 


CHAPTER  V 

LAW   IN    MUSIC 

Our  universe  is  entirely  law-governed.  If  this 
age  of  science  has  demonstrated  anything  of  value, 
it  is  the  fact  of  the  universal  reign  of  law.  But  law 
is  the  expression  of  intelligent  will.  It  is  the  lay- 
ing down  of  orderly  methods  of  motion  and  action, 
and  always  implies  the  originating  will  of  a  power 
possessed  of  intelligence  equivalent,  at  least,  to  that 
displayed  in  the  system  to  which  they  belong. 
The  superb  system  of  laws  ruling  every  part  of  the 
knoam,  and  presumably  of  the  unknown,  universe 
evSnces  the  sovereign  volition  of  such  a  Power. 
La\f  is  "  ideal  fact,"  and  requires  in  the  relations  of 
Creator  to  universe  an  Author  of  the  ideal  able  also 
to  realize  it. 

That  the  Source  of  universal  law  is  self-conscious 

and   benevolent,  can   only   be   inferred   from,  not 

demonstrated  by,  the  facts  of  imperfectly  evolved, 

sin-disordered  Nature.    Music,  however,  with  its  his- 

85 


86  GOD  AND   MUSIC 

tory,  possibilities,  and  correlations,  furnishes  valuable 
evidence  of  the  being  and  sovereignty  of  a  wise 
and  kindly  Ruler  of  the  universe.  Nothing  in  the 
cosmos  more  directly  reveals  the  strict  regimen  of 
law,  and  so  the  existence  and  dominance  of  an  in- 
telligent Lawmaker,  than  this  exact  and  exacting 
art.  Its  very  limitations  are  corroborating  proofs. 
The  products  of  music-making  agencies  must  in- 
evitably conform  to  inflexibly  ordered  rules  in  the 
use  of  definite  tones  at  definite  distances,  each  from 
each,  and  in  positive  relations  imposed  by  mathe- 
matical laws  of  vibration.  One  cannot  take  a  tone 
here  and  a  tone  there  out  of  myriads  of  possible 
sounds  in  nature,  and  throw  them  together  in  a 
\  '  series  dictated  by  either  chance,  fancy,  or  arbitrary 
choice,  and  expect  music  to  result.  A  process  like 
this  is  possible  to  a  limited  extent  in  the  use  of  the 
numberless  nuances  of  recognized  colors.  But  the 
consequence  in  the  realm  of  sound  would  be  discord 
worse  confounded.  Music  must  obey  strict  laws  in 
the  employment  of  well  defined  degrees  of  sound, 
or  it  is  not  music.  Helmholtz  explains  this  neces- 
-V  sity  by  the  fact  that  visible  art  has  to  do  with  space, 
not  time,  and  thus  its  forms  are  always  under  the 


LAW   IN   MUSIC  87 

eye  for  comparison,  adjustment,  and  enjoyment, 
while  music  vanishes  even  while  it  is  heard,  and 
must  proceed  in  ordered  steps  of  tone  and  fixed 
tonal  relations,  or  it  can  neither  be  understood,  re- 
membered, or  enjoyed. 

Whatever  the  explanation,  the  absolute  fact  re- 
mains that  the  whole  system  of  musical  sounds  is 
dominated  to  the  last  vibration  by  a  most  intricate 
code  of  laws.  Hence  it  immediately  involves  the 
being  of  a  Supreme  Lawgiver,  and  also  reveals 
what  kind  of  Being  is  on  the  throne  of  the  vocal 
and  audible  universe.  Since  a  musical  fault  is  al- 
ways a  logical  and  a  mathematical  fault,  straight 
against  nature,  it  is  plain  that  the  God  of  Music 
hates  tonal  transgressions.  And  since  moral  trans- 
gressions are  injurious  to  music  and  musician 
alike,  there  is  a  fortiori  proof  from  this  art  that  God 
is  the  foe  of  all  moral  disorder.  When  certain 
accordant  tones  or  melodic  series  of  tones  delight, 
refine,  express,  and  exalt  the  best  faculties  in  man, 
it  is  no  less  evident  that  the  vibratory  principles 
which  govern  their  production  and  audition  are  the 
outcome  of  a  regnant  musical  Will  at  the  heart  of 
the  acoustic  cosmos.     A  few  illustrations    out  of 


88  GODANDMUSIC 

multitudes  known  to  students  will  substantiate  the 
position  assumed. 

The  difference  between  mere  noise  and  a  mu- 
sical sound  is  simply  in  the  regularity  of  their  re- 
spective vibrations.  Two  common  stones  struck 
together  send  to  the  ear  air-waves  of  unequal  size 
at  irregular  intervals.  The  effect  is  unpleasant  to 
the  listening  ear  and  brain.  Every  musical  tone  is 
made  such  by  equal  waves  of  air  falling  upon  the 
ear  at  regular  intervals  of  time.  Thus  heaven's 
first  law  is  vindicated  in  the  production  of  sym- 
metrical sounds,  which  alone  are  satisfying  and 
beneficent  to  the  hearing  organ  and  the  inter- 
preting mind. 

Musical  tones  are  but  the  raw  material  of  music. 
They  combine  in  rhythmic  series  to  form  melodious 
and  concinnous  groups.  Both  melody  and  har- 
mony are  under  laws  of  vibration  which  compel 
them  to  conform  to  a  fundamental  sequence  of  tones 
called  a  scale.  Starting  from  different  tonal  points, 
and  selecting  a  greater  or  less  number  of  tones  at 
definite  intervals  of  pitch,  various  scales  have  been 
employed   cis   the   groundwork   of  musical  forms. 


LAW    IN    M  USIC  89 

But  to  remain  music,  these  coordinated  tones,  what- 
ever the  scale  used,  must  always  obey  the  primal 
law  which  demands  equal  length  and  regular  inter- 
vals of  aerial  waves  beating  upon  the  ear.  Tones 
and  intervals  are  governed  by  an  elaborate  system 
of  vibration  laws  which  make  music  an  exact  sci- 
ence and  a  complex  art.  The  science  of  music  is 
the  most  abstruse  of  all  sciences  in  its  possible 
mathematical  ramifications.  Happily  this  does  not 
forbid  the  child  or  the  peasant  to  enjoy  its  sweet 
stimulant.  It  does,  however,  confirm  the  definite 
assertion  that  "  the  most  impressive  result  of  the 
scientific  apprehension  of  the  order  of  the  world  is 
this,  that  the  laws  of  the  physical  universe  are  laws 
of  mathematical  relation."  Because  this  is  so, 
tonality  is  possible,  and  musical  invention  can 
climb  with  sure  step  the  Tonleiter  of  any  scale 
system  into  the  audible  heavens. 

Every  scale,  ancient  or  modern.  Oriental  or  Eu- 
ropean, would  furnish  similar  illustration  of  the 
argument  proposed ;  but  the  accepted  octave  be- 
ginning, for  example,  with  the  middle  A,  which 
has  a  vibration  number  of  435  waves  in  a  second, 
and  including  twelve  semitones,  is  the  most  usable. 


9©  GODANDMUSIC 

The  Persian,  Hindu,  and  Chinese  scales  with  their 
finer  tone  divisions  will  doubtless  add  resources 
for  a  completer  art,  science,  and  philosophy,  when 
understood  and  assimilated;  yet,  for  the  present 
purpose,  it  is  not  necessary  to  do  more  than  refer  to 
them.  All  scales  illustrate  the  central  principle  of 
art,  unity  in  variety,  and  also,  in  the  use  made  of 
them,  the  ethical  principle  of  free-will  under  strict 
law. 

The  series  of  partial  tones  which  accompany  all 
musical  sounds,  and  make  them  richer  and  more 
characteristic  as  their  partials  are  more  numerous, 
indicates  two  facts  of  prime  importance,  that  the 
cosmos  is  musical  through  and  through,  and 
that  the  modern  Occidental  scale  in  its  main 
components  is  suggested  in  nature.  The  accepted 
"  tone-ladder  "  by  no  means  exhausts  natural  scale 
relations.  It  is  not  an  arbitrary  canon  of  na- 
ture with  an  anathema  upon  whoever  adds  to,  or 
takes  from,  its  degrees.  Yet  since  the  first  five 
harmonics  contain  the  major  triad,  which  is  the 
basis  of  harmony,  and  the  others  add  most  of  the 
remaining  steps,  Sauveur's  assertion  was  not  with- 
out reason,  when  he  affirmed  that  the  overtones 


LAW   IN   MUSIC  91 

supply  Nature  with  the  entire  resources  for  a  nat- 
ural musical  system. 

In  the  diatonic  series  of  twelve  semitones,  at 
relative  distances  dictated  by  definite  vibration 
ratios  which  cause  their  equal  component  waves  to 
fall  upon  the  ear  with  a  regular  beat,  is  contained 
the  elementary  material  for  the  boundless  wealth 
of  modern  music.  The  whole  art  and  science  de- 
pend upon  number.  "  Numbers  are  the  spiritual 
essence  of  music."  Or,  if  this  descriptive  phrase 
too  much  ignores  a  higher  force  of  inspiration, 
music  may  safely  be  called  mathematics  glorified. 
Shakespeare's  phrase,  "  Cunning  in  Music  and  the 
Mathematics "  hints  at  a  divinely  appointed  mar- 
riage tie.  In  visible  nature  God  geometrizes.  In 
music  he  thinks  in  vibration  ratios.  Mathematical 
music  in  a  mathematical  universe  inevitably  harks 
back  to  a  mathematical  God,  whose  heart-beat  is 
music,  and  whose  nature  we  learn  to  know  as  love. 

Yet  numbers  are  only  the  invisible  skeleton  of 
music.  They  give  it  proportion,  and  bind  its 
ethereal  elements,  otherwise  discrete  and  confused, 
into  a  harmonious  whole.     But  all  possible  vibra- 


4 


92  GODANDMUSIC 

tion  rates,  ratios,  and  logarithms  could  never  of 
themselves  produce  even  a  simple,  heart-moving 
ballad,  or  one  strain  of  hymn  or  anthem  which  can 
lift  the  soul  heavenward.  Music  is  a  spiritual 
product.  No  composer  asks  as  to  his  tone-visions 
what  is  their  mathematical  architecture.  In  every 
inspired  song  or  symphony  the  soul  of  the  com- 
poser is  embodied,  and  lives  with  a  kind  of  audible 
immortality.  In  a  musical  universe,  a  musical  Deity 
thus  breathes  into  elect  men  something  of  his  own 
nature  of  holy  beauty  and  divine  love,  for  the  up- 
lifting joy  of  his  intelligent  creatures. 

The  theistic  argument  from  the  universal  pres- 
ence of  those  spirit  notes  called  overtones  or 
partials,  which  are  the  most  wonderful  and  potent 
things  in  music,  will  bear  repeating.  It  is  this. 
A  system  of  tone  relations  in  nature  so  intricate 
and  so  wonderfully  adapted  to  spiritual  expression 
and  impression,  cannot  be  conceived  of  as  a  mere 
by-product  of  an  unintelligent,  unmusical,  non- 
altruistic  evolutionary  tendency.  Their  vibratory 
laws  compel  the  use  of  the  higher  mathesis  to  un- 
ravel their  endless  permutations,  and  require  a 
mathematical  Mind  as  their  source.     Yet  more  than 


LAW  IN   MUSIC  93 

this,  their  adaptation  to  the  expression  and  genera- 
tion of  spiritual  states  points  directly  to  a  spiritual 
origin.  Infinite  in  theoretic  extent,  they  open  a 
door  into  the  infinite.  They  promise  means  of 
communion  between  the  Infinite  Spirit  and  finite 
beings,  without  the  necessary  interposition  of  the 
clumsy  medium  of  words.  When  our  gross  senses 
are  etherealized,  or  replaced  by  the  far  more 
sensitive  faculties  of  a  spiritual  body,  we  may 
recognize  the  omnipresent  voice  of  Deity  in  tones 
conveying  truth,  love,  and  power,  expressed  in 
forms  which  all  audible  and  visible  nature,  as  we 
know  it,  cannot  possibly  reproduce.  The  pure  in 
heart  shall  hear  Grod. 


CORRELATIONS  OF  MUSIC 


"  But  I  guess  by  the  stir  of  this  music 
What  raptures  in  heaven  can  be, 
Where  the  sound  is  thy  marvellous  stillness, 
And  the  music  is  light  out  of  thee," 

— F.  W.  Faber. 

"  Radium  receives  its  energy  from,  and  responds  to,  radiations 
which  traverse  all  space — as  piano  strings  respond  to  sounds  in 
unison  with  their  notes.  Space  is  all  a-quiver  with  waves  of 
radiant  energy  of  various  lengths  which  constitute  the  <  harp  of 
life.'  We  vibrate  in  sympathy  with  a  few  strings  here  and  there — 
with  the  tiny  X-rays,  actinic  rays,  light  waves,  heat  waves,  and  the 
huge  electro-magnetic  waves  of  Herz  and  Marconi ;  but  there  are 
great  spaces,  numberless  radiations,  to  which  we  are  stone  deaf. 
Some  day,  a  thousand  years  hence,  we  shall  know  the  full  sweep 
of  this  magnificent  harmony,  and  with  it  shall  vibrate  in  accord 
with  the  Master  Musician  of  it  all." — Robert  Kennedy  Duncan. 


CHAPTER  VI 

CORRELATIONS   OF   MUSIC 

A  UNIVERSE  which  is  product  and  embodiment 
of  vibratory  motion,  must  show  close  interrelations 
between  its  component  parts.  Natural  selection 
through  survival  of  victorious  variations  might,  in- 
deed, account  for  occasional  correspondences  which 
would  sometimes  have  the  appearance  of  guiding 
intelligence.  The  original  and  continuous  cause, 
taking  this  term  in  a  purely  mechanical  sense, 
being  always  the  same,  namely,  rhythmical  mo- 
tion, there  might  possibly  result  something  like  a 
universe,  a  unitary  product  with  a  multitude  of 
differing  forms  and  factors.  But  that  there  could 
thus  be  evolved  a  true  cosmos  replete  in  every  item 
with  evidences  of  reason,  psychical  feeling,  and  in- 
telligent, beneficent  will,  so  that  the  whole  infinite 
system  would  be  manifestly  one  creative  thought, 
in  which  every  part  bore  the  mark  of  apparently 
designed  adaptation  to  logical  ends;  moreover, 
97 


98  GODANDMUSIC 

that  in  this  real  cosmos  everything  in  its  evolving 
should  trend  toward  conscious  mind  as  its  goal, 
and  that  in  its  progressive  unfolding  there  should 
arise  minds  innumerable  to  vi^hich  the  material 
universe  would  speak  of  a  Supreme  Mind,  exactly 
as  a  book  or  letter  speaks  of  its  author's  thought 
and  character,  all  without  a  creative  Thinker  and  a 
single  dominant  Will, — this  is  utterly  unthinkable 
and  irrational.  Motion  of  mass  can  produce  only 
motion  of  mass.  The  bridge  from  foot-pounds 
to  conscious  thought  has  never  been  discovered. 
The  evidence  points  the  other  way,  from  intelligent 
will  to  force  and  form.  The  bridge,  when  found, 
must  be  entered  from  the  side  of  spirit. 

It  is  possible,  as  a  supposition,  that  a  single  wire 
might  accidentally  fall  across  the  gulf  from  the  other 
side,  and  serve  as  support  to  a  fine-spun  theory  that 
thought  is  a  product  of  molecular  motion.  Two  or 
three  such  fortuitous  wires  might  imaginably  hap- 
pen to  connect  the  worlds  of  matter  and  of  mind — 
if  two  different  worlds,  so  named,  really  exist — with 
some  show  of  causality  proceeding  from  the  side  of 
unthinking  energy.  But  when  in  our  universe,  as 
it  actually  is,  a  complete  and   complex   system  is 


CORRELATIONS  OF  MUSIC         99 

found  of  conjoined  wires,  as  it  were,  all  stretching 
in  parallel  lines,  mutually  correspondent,  and  giving 
plain  evidence  of  a  coordinating  will  as  their  archi- 
tectonic cause,  it  is  impossible  not  to  refer  the 
whole  structure  to  one  Supreme  Mind.  The  crea- 
tive Thinker  is  necessarily  conceived  of  as  planning, 
achieving,  and  maintaining  the  universal  order. 

In  an  intricate  machine  every  added  part  in- 
creases the  improbability  of  accidental  origin. 
Each  wheel  and  cog  in  perfect  correspondence 
with  the  rest,  adds  to  the  proof  of  inventive  and 
constructive  intelligence.  The  interrelations  of  all 
parts  of  the  universe  are  so  absolutely  governed 
by  precise  and  unvarying  laws,  as  to  necessitate 
belief  that  it  was  planned,  and  is  ruled,  by  a  logical, 
all  comprehending  Mind.  If  the  least  change  in 
universal  chemical  ratios  would  carry  destruction 
into  all  related  departments  of  the  cosmos,  as  is 
doubtless  the  fact,  would  not  the  same  result  follow 
from  any  change  of  the  fundamental  laws  of  vibra- 
tion, on  which  chemistry  as  well  as  music  depends  ? 

The  correlations  of  Music  are  so  mafiy  and  so  per- 
fect, that  of  themselves  they  prove  a  Supreme  creative 
Mind. 


loo  GODANDMUSIC 

Take  first  the  medium  through  which  sound 
reaches  the  ear  and  brain.  Of  infinitesimal  waves 
in  the  universal  ether  and  the  possible  music  they 
may  make  throughout  uncharted  space,  we  can 
know  nothing  except  by  inference  and  hypothesis 
But  with  the  terrestrial  atmosphere  in  its  elements 
and  functions  we  are  fairly  well  acquainted.  Here 
the  adaptation  to  intelligible  sound  and  aesthetic 
uses  is  unmistakable. 

The  atmosphere  which  envelops  our  planet  is  a 
compound  of  gases  so  constituted  as  to  fulfil  a  large 
number  of  unlike  functions,  absolutely  essential  to 
life  under  known  conditions.  Were  it  differently 
composed  it  might  be  fitted  for  some  one  use,  like 
the  transmission  of  light,  yet  be  wholly  unfit  for 
others,  such  as  oxygenating  the  blood,  or  correctly 
rendering  sound.  As  it  is,  heavy  oxygen  and 
lighter  nitrogen,  with  other  elements  in  minute  quan- 
tities, are  so  mingled  that  the  physical  world  in  all 
its  parts  and  relations  is  what  it  is  because  the  air  is 
what  it  is.  A  slight  change  in  its  constitution  would 
make  the  earth  uninhabitable.  The  actual  phenom- 
ena of  light  and  color,  with  the  arts  and  sciences 
having  to  do  with  them,  are  offspring  of  the  common 


CORRELATIONS   OF   MUSIC       loi 

air.  The  active  chemistry  of  the  sunbeam  and  the 
aerial  forces  at  work  upon  the  inorganic  world  would 
be  inefTective  if  the  atmosphere  were  otherwise  con- 
stituted. Without  it,  human  knowledge  would  be  a 
blank.  This  would  be  a  deaf  and  dumb  world,  or 
a  world  too  confused  and  discordant  for  intelligible 
or  artistic  life,  were  the  air  around  us  anything  else 
than  it  actually  is. 

The  atmosphere  is  so  compounded  that  it  is  true 
to  tone.  Sounds  are  louder  or  softer  in  proportion 
to  distance,  but,  to  the  furthest  limits  of  hearing,  they 
always  remain  of  the  same  pitch  as  at  their  starting 
point.  If  the  gases  which  make  up  the  atmosphere 
were  not  perfectly  combined  in  the  exact  proportion 
which  is  now  the  case,  sound  would  change  its  pitch 
in  its  passage  to  the  ear.  The  trumpet  would  give 
an  uncertain  blast ;  voices  would  lose  their  identity. 
The  conduct  of  practical  affairs  depending  on  audi- 
ble sounds  would  be  difficult,  if  not  impossible. 
Music  simply  could  not  be.  A  very  slight  differ- 
ence in  the  medium,  according  to  Prof.  J.  P. 
Cook,  "  would  confuse  all  those  delicate  differences 
of  pitch  on  which  the  whole  art  of  music  depends." 

The  rate  at  which  sound  travels,  differs  in  propor- 


I02  GODANDMUSIC 

tion  to  the  density  and  elasticity  of  the  gas  through 
which  it  is  propagated.  Our  atmosphere  is  so  per- 
fectly constituted  that  the  elasticities  of  its  gases  are 
exactly  adjusted  to  its  densities,  so  that  the  air  pass- 
ing through  an  organ  pipe  sounds  as  if  it  were  one 
gas.  "  Had  sound  travelled  in  these  two  gases  at 
rates  differing  as  much  as  the  rates  in  most  gases 
known  to  us,  the  use  of  wind  instruments  would 
have  been  impossible ;  probably  all  music,  even  the 
tones  of  the  human  voice,  would  in  that  case  have 
been  discordant  to  an  ear  at  any  considerable  dis- 
tance from  the  source  of  sound.  With  the  intense 
and  elevating  character  of  the  pleasure  derived,  first 
from  the  tones  of  human  speech,  from  the  melody 
of  birds,  and  other  natural  music,  and  secondly, 
from  the  art  of  music,  we  cannot  but  be  grateful  for 
this  adaptation  of  the  mingled  atmosphere  to  the 
wants  of  man  in  his  higher  nature." 

Now,  a  deaf,  irrational,  and  purposeless  nature, 
capable  only  of  "  the  tremor  of  an  inexpressive 
thought,"  if  of  anything  to  be  called  thought,  could 
not  conceivably  have  effected  this  wonderful  adap- 
tation. Even  if,  by  any  reasonable  supposition,  the 
gases  of  our  atmosphere  could  in  the  course  of 


CORRELATIONS  OF  MUSIC        103 

geologic  ages  have  happened,  without  intelligent 
oversight,  upon  the  exact  ratio  necessary  for  acous- 
tic and  specifically  musical  purposes,  the  probability 
that  air  so  constituted  would  be  exactly  the  sort  in- 
dispensable for  all  the  other  uses  of  our  present 
atmosphere,  would  be  geometrically  small. 

It  may  be  answered,  that  the  air  being  what 
it  is,  all  other  things  related  to  it  in  the  inor- 
ganic, organic,  and  mental  worlds  must  under  its 
agency  have  become  what  tliey  are.  But  this 
would  be  like  saying  that,  human  brawn  and  brain 
being  chemically  constituted  as  they  now  are,  the 
history  of  Greece,  Palestine,  China,  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States  must  necessarily  have  been  just 
what  it  is  known  to  us;  and  more,  that  all  the  arts 
and  sciences,  and  all  philosophies  and  religions  are 
solely  the  product  of  cerebral  gray  matter.  This 
is  a  begging  of  the  question.  The  spiritual  con- 
tent of  human  history  is  of  another  essence  from 
the  material  agencies  which  have  conditioned  it. 
The  spiritual  force  dominant  and  directive  in  the 
history  of  men  has  a  spiritual  source.  All  else  is 
medium  and  environment.  An  organ  with  its  key- 
board and  multitudinous  pipes,  which  condition  and 


I04  GODANDMUSIC 

character  all  the  music  that  comes  from  them,  may 
as  well  be  conceived  of  as  self-built  and  self-played 
as  that  insensate  nature  guessed  out  the  ratios  of 
the  air,  fitted  the  ear,  eye,  brain,  lungs,  heart,  arm, 
and  fingers  exactly  to  the  resulting  compound,  and 
made  them  agree  to  tell  the  false  story  of  a  spirit- 
ual agent  within,  originating  angelic  melodies  and 
fortuitous  harmonies  that  stir  the  soul  to  its  depths. 

Terrestrial  air  and  the  human  ear  are  so  related, 
the  one  to  the  other,  that  aerial  vibrations  of  in- 
finitesimal amplitude  and  duration  are  duplicated  in 
the  auditory  chamber  within,  and  awaken  in  the 
brain  innumerable  and  inexplicable  sensations  of 
musical  sound.  These  are  reiterated  in  the  adytum 
of  the  conscious  soul  in  such  wise  that  not  only  the 
composer's  conception  and  passion  are  communi- 
cated to  it,  but  the  soul  itself  is  often  raised  to  its 
highest  degree  of  feeling,  the  emotion  correspond- 
ing in  intellectual  and  moral  quality  to  the  charac- 
ter of  the  listener. 

The  wonders  of  the  phonograph  somewhat  illus- 
trate the  mechanical  process  that  goes  on  within  and 
behind  the  ear ;  but  this  remarkable  instrument  comes 
immeasurably  short  of  the  perfection  of  the  auditory 


CORRELATIONS  OF  MUSIC       105 

organ.  Above  all,  it  lacks  the  greatest  of  wonders, 
a  direct  connection  with  a  spiritual  agent  behind 
the  sensitive  diaphragm.  The  phonograph  has  no 
soul.  It  can  neither  create,  understand,  nor  enjoy 
the  music  it  reproduces. 

The  internal  ear  is  a  musical  instrument  of  most 
intricate  and  exquisite  workmanship.  It  not  only 
combines  and  transforms  vibrations  of  the  common 
air  into  accurately  toned  sounds,  but  is  an  infallible 
••  resonator "  for  the  exact  analysis  of  composite 
tones,  far  superior  to  the  ingenious  device  for  this 
purpose  invented  by  Helmholtz.  Every  normal 
head  is  furnished  with  a  pair  of  harps  strung  with 
microscopic  fibres  for  sounding  wires,  to  a  number 
variously  estimated  as  3,ocx),  8,700,  13400,  and 
even  26,000  or  more.  These  "  rods,"  or  "  fibres,  of 
Corti,"  so  called  from  their  discoverer,  are  attached 
to  the  cochlea  as  their  sounding  board,  and  each  of 
them  is  connected  with  a  terminal  filament  of  the 
auditory  nerve.  The  tympanum,  or  ear-drum,  by 
means  of  a  bony  hammer  conveys  from  the  air  vi- 
brations of  almost  inconceivable  rapidity  to  a  liquid 
filling  the  gallery  of  the  cochlea,  and  this  sets  the 
microscopic  fibres  of  the  auditory  nerve  into  vibrat- 


gALlfQl,- 


io6  GODANDMUSIC 

ing  response  with  absolute  accuracy.  Different 
fibres,  separately  or  in  groups,  respond  to  different 
sounds,  and  so  permit  the  hearing  of  simultaneous 
tones,  making  harmony  feasible.  A  most  impor- 
tant item  is  that  all  sounds  are  instantaneously 
"  damped,"  since  continuous  vibration  of  the  fibres 
would  make  distinction  of  tones  impossible.  The 
hearing  apparatus  is  so  constructed  as  to  perceive 
the  pitch,  loudness,  and  quality  of  each  tone,  which 
depend  upon  the  number,  amplitude,  and  form  of 
the  air-waves. 

When  this  complicated  mechanism  has  done  its 
work,  or  while  it  is  still  doing  it,  there  takes  place 
the  transformation  from  mathematical  motion  to 
conscious  perception,  feeling,  and  thought.  Here 
is  the  abyss  between  vibrating  matter  and  hearing 
mind  which  has  never  been  crossed  by  the  scien- 
tific reason.  It  defies  imagination,  yet  the  crossing 
of  it  is  a  fact  of  constant  experience  with  every 
person  possessing  the  sense  of  hearing. 

The  average  child  hardly  out  of  infancy  performs 
the  miracle  of  perceiving  and  instinctively  judging 
musical  sounds,  a  process  that  involves  a  logarith- 
mic solution.     Any  normal  child  possesses  an  organ 


CORRELATIONS  OF  MUSIC       107 

which  instantly  and  without  training  reports  to  the 
newly  formed  brain  the  physical  effect  of  sound- 
waves of  enormous  rapidity  and  complexity,  and 
the  infantile  brain  discerns  at  once  not  only  the 
exact  tones  produced,  but  also  the  harmonious  or 
discordant  quality  of  the  composite  sounds  per- 
ceived, and  is  correspondingly  affected  in  conscious 
emotion.  The  ear  is  the  first  developed  of  the 
special  senses,  and  comes  into  activity  the  most 
complete  in  functional  power. 

A  thousand  singers  or  players  on  many  instru- 
ments, taking  different  parts,  and  ten  thousand 
listeners  of  varying  capacity  are  as  one  person  in 
producing  or  hearing  a  wilderness  of  tones  made 
by  uncounted  millions  of  vibrations  in  air  and  ear. 
Thus  the  thoughts  of  a  composer  long  since  gone 
to  the  realm  of  silence,  are  conveyed  by  the  medium 
of  every-day  air  to  the  minds  of  the  living  through 
the  labyrinthic  passage  of  the  human  ear.  "  Yet 
all  this  is  done  by  persons  both  young  and  old, 
who  may  know  nothing  of  mathematics,  who  un- 
derstand nothing  of  the  laws  of  acoustics,  who 
never  heard  of  a  sound-wave  or  a  vibration  num- 
ber, and  yet  who,  by  some  mysterious  power,  work 


io8  GODANDMUSIC 

out  these  subtle  mathematical  problems  to  perfec- 
tion, enjoying,  and  communicating  to  others  the 
intensest  pleasure." 

The  extreme  acuteness  and  accuracy  of  tone  per- 
ception possessed  by  expert  tuners  and  trained  mu- 
sicians illustrate  the  matter  before  us.  Their  keen 
ears  are  masters  of  quite  eleven  octaves,  as  com- 
pared with  the  octave  and  a  half  of  definite  sensa- 
tions of  color  belonging  to  the  eye.  A  visual  error 
of  not  more  than  one-thirtieth  would  mark  the 
average  limit  of  perception  possible  to  the  skilled 
draughtsman.  But  this  would  be  equivalent  to  only 
about  a  quarter  of  a  tone  in  aural  perception,  while 
a  forty-fifth  of  a  tone  is  easily  determined  by  the 
trained  ear.  A  skillful  piano  tuner,  as  stated  by 
Zahm,  can  distinguish  between  a  true  and  a  tem- 
pered fifth,  where  the  difference  is  only  one-hun- 
dredth of  a  tone.  This  would  indicate  a  definite 
sensation  of  over  six  hundred  sounds  in  an  octave. 
A  superior  violinist  is  said  to  recognize  at  least  a 
hundred  more,  or  nearly  three  thousand  in  the  forty 
notes  of  his  instrument.  Very  acute  ears  can  dis- 
tinguish notes  whose  vibrational  difference  is  that 


CORRELATIONS  OF  MUSIC       109 

between  1,000  and  1,001,  or  one  sixty-eighth  of  a 
half  tone.  When  we  remember  that  the  notes  of 
an  orchestra  are  produced  by  vibrations  ranging 
from  33  to  4,608  per  second,  and  compute  the 
number  of  notes  played  by  all  its  instruments  dur- 
ing that  time,  wonder  grows  to  amazement  that  the 
human  ear  can  perceive,  accurately  judge,  and 
keenly  enjoy  the  innumerable  throng  of  musical  air- 
waves thus  set  in  motion.  And  when  it  is  scien- 
tifically determined  that  a  sound  can  be  heard  when 
only  two  vibrations  have  been  made,  and  a  musical 
note  distinguished  with  from  two  to  twenty  vibra- 
tory impacts  of  air  upon  the  tympanum,  the 
achievement  of  the  Creator  of  air  and  ear  seems  in- 
describable. 

In  fact,  the  study  of  the  human  ear,  in  its  func- 
tion of  hearing  music  and  interpreting  to  brain  and 
soul  the  joy  and  meaning  of  it,  should  be  a  suffi- 
cient cure  for  untheistic  conceptions  of  the  universe. 
Newton  had  knowledge  enough  of  natural  facts  and 
laws  to  enable  his  unsurpassed  scientific  mentality 
to  form  a  judgment  worthy  the  respect  of  all,  even 
in  the  twentieth  century.  His  final  conclusion  was 
that  a  mechanism  of  wonderful  structure,  like  the 


no  GOD  AND   MUSIC 

ear,  could  not  arise  by  the  mere  laws  of  nature. 
"  In  astronomy,"  to  quote  Dr.  Chalmers  in  the  in- 
troductory chapter  to  the  Bridgewater  Treatises, 
"  the  independent  elements  seem  few  and  simple. 
For  example,  the  law  of  gravitation  explains  all  the 
revolutions  of  suns  and  planets.  But  in  anatomy 
the  complexity  is  so  great,  that  the  eye  or  the  ear 
gives  more  intense  evidence  for  a  God  than  the 
orrery  of  the  Heavens."  If  musical  instruments 
and  acoustical  devices  like  the  resonator  compel 
belief  in  a  human  maker,  most  certainly  does  the 
marvellous  apparatus  of  hearing  by  which  living 
men  interchange  thought  and  feeling  at  first  hand, 
and  without  which  the  worlds  of  speech  and  music 
would  be  annihilated,  demonstrate  a  Creator  of 
superhuman  skill  and  unbounded  goodness.  How 
this  organ  came  to  be  what  it  is,  matters  nothing  in 
the  argument.  The  mental  content  and  spiritual 
efficiency  belonging  to  the  boon  of  audition  must 
have  originated  in  the  primal  Cause,  and  have  a 
definite  purpose  of  blessing  as  its  final  cause. 

Other  senses  share  the  office  of  communicating 
between  minds,  and  may  even  in  a  measure  replace 
that  of  hearing.     Helen  Keller,  with  the  one  sense 


CORRELATIONS   OF   MUSIC       iii 

of  touch,  has  appropriated  more  treasure  from  the 
realms  of  pure  thought  and  noble  feeling  than  most 
persons  with  every  bodily  faculty  unimpaired.  But 
imagine  the  unspeakable  wealth  of  sensation,  power, 
and  highest  enjoyment  that  would  come  to  that 
rare  soul  if  the  common  gift  of  hearing  were  im- 
parted to  her !  A  heart  like  hers  could  not  con- 
tain itself  for  intense  joy  and  gratitude  toward  her 
undoubted  Benefactor.  The  average  mind  must  be 
constrained,  with  J.  A.  Zahm,  an  acknowledged 
authority  in  acoustics,  to  recognize  "  the  stupen- 
dous results  which  the  Creator  accomplishes  by  the 
means  employed,  and  to  see  in  the  astonishing  phe- 
nomena of  audition  evidences  of  Divine  power  and 
wisdom  as  striking  as  any  disclosed  in  the  whole 
realm  of  animated  nature." 

The  analogies  between  music  and  color  have 
long  been  noted.  Their  mutual  resemblances 
have  led  to  theories  of  an  essential  kinship  which 
have  even  challenged  the  inventive  faculty.  Bril- 
liant experiments  showing  the  effect  of  sound  on 
flame,  and  of  flames  on  the  resonant  air,  have 
resulted  in  attempts  at  a  "  color  piano."     Vacuum 


112  GOD  AND   MUSIC 

tubes  illuminated  by  means  of  a  keyboard  discharg- 
ing an  electric  current  through  them  at  the  will  of 
the  performer,  are  capable  of  producing  color  melo- 
dies and  color  chords.  The  invention  has  remained 
a  scientific  toy,  but  it  is  claimed  that  all  phases  of 
musical  composition  can  thus  be  translated  into 
phonoscopic  harmonies,  progressions,  resolutions, 
and,  in  fine,  into  real  symphonies  in  color.  The 
electrical  displays  at  recent  World's  Expositions 
have  come  near  to  demonstrate  the  practicability 
of  such  a  scheme.  Artistic  fads  of  symphonies 
in  red,  or  lilac,  or  Nile  green  mayhap,  rest  on  a 
general  fact  of  correlation.  Musical  critics,  also, 
have  a  scientific  right  to  speak  of  phrases,  motifs, 
movements,  and  their  execution,  in  terms  of  optics, 
if  only  they  know  what  they  are  writing  about. 

Light,  color,  and  sound  are  alike  products  of  vi- 
brations in  air  and  ether.  The  chief  apparent 
difference  between  them  is  that  light  and  its  family 
of  colors  are  produced  by  waves  of  tremendous 
rapidity,  while  musical  tones  are  the  product  of 
vibrations  of  comparatively  small  frequency.  From 
the  most  acute  tone  perceptible  by  the  human  ear 
to  the  extreme  red  of  the  spectrum,  the  vibration 


CORRELATIONS  OF  MUSIC       113 

difference  is  that  between  about  fcurJwndred  and 
four  hundred  and  fifty-eight  trillions,  an  interval  of 
some  thirty-four  octaves.  To  produce  the  vibration 
number  of  red,  a  wire  corresponding  to  that  of  the 
highest  note  in  a  grand  piano  would  not  be  over 
one  ten-billionth  of  an  inch  in  length. 

This  enormous  difference  seems  prohibitory  of 
real  relationship,  yet  Professor  Gruber  in  Nature 
affirms  that  the  connection  is  closer  between  mu- 
sical sound  and  color  than  with  unmusical  sound  or 
mere  noise.    The  blind  man  who  felt  the  blast  of  a 
trumpet  as  akin  to  his  idea  of  the  color  red,  may 
have  been  a  first-hand  witness  to  a  twofold  fact  in 
nature.     Vowel  sounds  have  been  reproduced  by 
mechanical  means  following  a  calculated  scheme  of 
vibrational  compounds.     The  sound  of  the  vowel 
"  E "  is  associated  with  the  sensation   of  yellow, 
"  I "  with   blue,  and  "  O  "  with   black.     Van  der\ 
Weyde's  lectures  demonstrated  that  the  vibrations    \ 
of  the  first,  third,  and  fifth  notes  of  the  diatonic 
scale  bear  the  same  relations  to  one  another  as  the       ' 
colors  red,  yellow,  and  blue.    Accordingly,  he  found       V 
most  war-songs  written   in   C  (red),  songs  of  the 
ocean  and  sky  in  G  (blue),  while  many  pieces  de- 


114  GOD  AND   MUSIC 

scribing  green  forests  and  meadows  were  in  F  (blue 
plus  yellow,  making  green).  Both  the  asserted 
facts  and  the  laws  inferred  would  seem  to  need  veri- 
fication, but  some  interrelation  certainly  exists. 

The  author  of  "  Charles  Auchester,"  Miss  Shep- 
pard,  puts  into  the  mouth  of  her  character  represent- 
ing Mendelssohn  this  description  of  an  orchestral 
rainbow  scale :  "  Strings  first,  of  course ;  violet,  in- 
digo, blue — violin,  violincello,  double-bass.  Upon 
these  you  repose,  the  vault  is  quite  perfect.  Green, 
the  many-sounded  kinds  of  wood — spring-head 
flutes,  deeper  clarinette,  bassoons  the  darkest  tone, — 
another  vault.  The  brass,  of  course,  is  yellow,  and  if 
the  horns  suggest  the  paler  dazzle,  the  trumpets  take 
the  golden  orange,  and  the  red  is  left  for  the  trom- 
bones, vivid,  or  dim,  or  dusk." 

In  "  Physiological  Optics "  Helmholtz  suggests 
the  following  non-scientific  analogies  between  the 
notes  of  the  piano  and  the  colors  of  the  spectrum : 

Fjf,  end  of  Red.  c,  Yellow.  {$,  Violet. 

G,  Red.  cf ,  Green.  g,  Ultra  violet. 

Gf,  Red.  d,  Greenish-blue,     gf ,    "         " 

A,  Red.  df,  Cyanogen-blue,  a,      "         " 
Af,  Orange  Red.  e,  Indigo-blue.         a^     "        " 

B,  Orange.  f,  Violet.  b,  End  of  spectrum. 


CORRELATIONS  OF  MUSIC       115 

The  seven  prismatic  colors  and  the  seven  primary 
tones  of  the  diatonic  scale  are  said  to  have  the  same 
proportionate  rates  of  vibration.  Triads  of  color 
•anel'.tone  are  fundamental  in  both. 


Without  further  illustration,  the  close  correlation 
of  the  optical  and  the  acoustical  laws  of  creation 
points  directly  to  the  conclusion  that  music  is  not  a 
thing  by  itself  in  the  universe,  incidental  and  of 
human  parentage  alone.  It  is  interwoven  with  the 
law-governed  forces  of  nature,  the  action  of  which 
makes  the  universe  a  cosmos,  and  fits  it  to  be  the 
environment  of  spiritual  beings.  That  music  is 
cosmical,  may  logically  be  inferred  from  its  correla- 
tion with  light  and  color,  which  are  known  to  be 
universal.  Spectrum  analysis  proves  that  color 
persists  throughout  space.  The  hues  of  the  most 
distant  stars  remain  absolutely  the  same  after  their 
rays  have  traversed  spaces  immeasurable  through 
long  periods  of  time.  No  known  reason  exists  in 
the  laws  of  vibration  why  its  lower  frequencies 
should  not  stir  the  air  of  the  most  distant  worlds  in 
rhythmic  pulsations  audible  to  ears  of  teleacoustic 
power. 


ii6  GOD  AND   MUSIC 

Each  new  factor  of  correlated  force  in  the  uni- 
verse showing  that  the  same  mathematical  laws  rule 
in  all  its  provinces,  and  that  all  things  work  har- 
moniously toward  results  of  wise  beneficence,  adds 
to  theistic  probability  in  geometric  ratio)- 

'  An  interesting  parallel  has  been  noted  by  Mr,  Isaac  L,  Rice,  in 
a  monograph  entitled,  "  How  the  Geometrical  Lines  have  their 
Counterparts  in  Music,"  between  the  relations  of  geometrical  lines 
in  space  and  the  metrical  divisions  of  time  in  music.  Space  and 
time  he  defines  as  differentiations  of  one  idea,  infinity.  They  are 
the  conditions  of  all  finite  existence,  and  the  mediums  of  com- 
munication between  the  infinite  and  the  finite.  A  line  is  the  dis- 
tance between  two  assumed  points  in  space.  A  meter  is  the 
distance  between  two  assumed  moments  or  points  of  time.  Start- 
ing with  these  simple  data,  a  distinct  likeness  is  found  to  exist  be- 
tween the  orders  into  which  geometricians  have  divided  lines 
according  to  their  functions  in  the  measurement  of  space,  namely, 
straight,  circular,  elliptic,  parabolic,  and  hyperbolic,  and  the  recog- 
nized meters  of  music — dual,  triple,  quadruple,  quintuple,  and 
sextuple.  These  analogous  forms  in  space  and  in  time  are  clothed 
respectively  with  colors  and  with  tones,  and  are  the  groundwork 
of  visual  and  audible  beauty.  Visible  nature  and  audible  art  are 
mutual  counterparts.  Tone  is  the  correlative  of  color ;  rhythm,  of 
geometric  form.  "  Rhythm  is  the  shape,  form,  or  proportion  of 
things  in  time ;  shape,  form,  or  proportion  is  the  rhythm  of  things 
in  space."  Architecture  is  thus  correlated  with  music,  so  that  de- 
scribing the  Cologne  cathedral  as  a  "  frozen  symphony  "  is  not 
using  a  baseless  metaphor. 

The  "  Chladni  figures,"  made  by  the  vibrations  of  musical 
sounds  communicated  to  a  membrane  covered  with  sand  or  colored 
powders,  are  a  beautiful  illustration  of  the  fundamental  relations  ex- 
isting between  geometry  and  music.     Discords  throw  the  lines  as- 


CORRELATIONS   OF   MUSIC        117 

In  all  human  experience  the  internal  facts  cor* 
respond  with  the  external, — perception  with  light, 
color,  form  and  sound ;  the  spiritual  sense  of  beauty 
with  the  beauty-making  factors  in  nature ;  the  prin- 
■  ciple  of  causality  in  human  thought  with  the  in- 
evitable sequence  of  cause  and  effect  in  the  whole 
universe ;  the  generalizing  propensity  with  the  uni- 
versal order.  Beyond  a  doubt,  the  external  facts 
have  had  everything  to  do  with  shaping  the  forms 
of  organs  and  developing  correspondmg  faculties  of 
mind,  but  their  influence  can  never  account  for  the 
rational  and  spiritual  contents  of  the  evolutionary 
process,  nor  for  the  correlations  existing  between 

sumed  by  the  material  on  the  membrane  into  confusion,  while 
pure  tones  and  harmonies  cause  it  to  assume  geometric  figures  of 
great  beauty.  In  Sidney  Lanier's  essay  on  "The  Physics  of 
Music,"  he  says  that  the  wonderful  methods  of  reducing  the  pro- 
portions of  musical  vibrations  to  curves,  visible  to  the  eye,  have 
been  "  carried  to  such  an  extent,  that  among  musical  scientists 
tones  arc  known  by  their  curves.  .  .  .  When  the  lecturer  pro- 
ceeds to  cast  these  proportions  upon  a  screen,  in  bands  of  brilliant 
light,  and  to  bring  out  the  most  graceful  and  brilliant  figures,  ever 
increasing  in  complexity  as  he  superimposes  curve  upon  curve  of 
note  upon  note,  the  enthusiasm  of  the  dullest  person  is  sure  of  be- 
ing aroused."  The  aesthetic  character  of  the  correlation  between 
visible  and  audible  nature  thus  strikingly  brought  out  under  scien- 
tific manipulation,  will  reinforce  the  argument  of  the  following 
chapter. 


u8  GOD   AND   MUSIC 

these  and  outer  nature,  and  amid  the  different 
departments  of  nature  itself.  Matter  may  possibly 
be  sensitive,  but  is  never  conscious.  The  fibres  of 
Corti  thrill  in  response  to  vibrations  in  the  common 
air,  and  brain  cells  may  thus  be  rhythmically 
stirred ;  but  music  begins  only  in  the  mind  behind 
the  brain.  The  power  that  made  the  microcosm  of 
the  human  soul  made  the  universe  without  to  be  its 
school,  its  tool,  its  changing  home,  and  its  possible 
Paradise. 


It 


THE  BEAUTIFIER  OF  TIME 


"  He  hath  made  everything  beautiful  in  its  time." — Ecclesias- 
TES  3:  II. 

"  Beauty  to  the  Greeks  was  one  aspect  of  the  universal  synthesis, 
communicate  with  all  that  is  fair  in  manners  and  comely  in  morals. 
It  was  the  harmony  of  man  with  nature  in  a  well-balanced  and 
complete  humanity,  the  bloom  of  youth  upon  a  conscious  being, 
satisfied,  as  the  flowers  and  beasts  and  stars  are  satisfied,  with  the 
conditions  of  temporal  existence.  It  was  the  joy-note  of  the  whole 
world,  and  echoed  by  the  sole  being  who  could  comprehend  it — 
Man." — J.  A.  Svmonds. 

"  There  flows  onward,  with  the  rushing  music  of  mighty  waves, 
an  eternal  stream  of  life  and  power  and  action,  which  issues  from 
the  original  source  of  all  life,  from  Thy  life,  O  Infinite  One !  for  all 
life  is  Thy  life,  and  only  the  religious  eye  penetrates  to  the  realm 
of  true  beauty." — J.  G.  Fichte. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   BEAUTIFIER   OF   TIME 

As  a  theistic  argument,  the  evidence  furnished  by 
music  for  the  being  and  universal  activity  of  an 
assthetically  benevolent  God,  is  part,  and  no  small 
part,  of  the  little  developed  argument  from  the 
Beautiful.  In  its  entire  reach,  this  is  perhaps  the 
strongest  of  all  proofs  for  the  existence  of  a 
Supreme  Being,  as  it  is  one  of  the  most  attractive 
and  characteristic  disclosures  of  his  nature. 

The  general  argument  is  this  :  If  anything  is, 
beauty  is,  and  beauty  must  have  a  suflficient  and 
consonant  cause.  In  conscious  experience  it  is 
subjective,  existing,  as  beauty,  only  within  the  per- 
ceiving mind;  but  so  is  everything  in  which  mind 
plays  a  leading  part  Referring  to  the  Duke  of 
Argyle's  line  of  thought  on  this  subject,  Darwin 
wrote  as  follows  :  "  Still  odder,  it  seems  to  me,  all 
that  he  says  on  beauty,  which  I  should  have  thought 
a  nonentity,  except  in  the  mind  of  some  sentient 

121 


122  GOD   AND   MUSIC 

being.  He  might  as  well  have  said  that  love 
existed  during  the  secondary  or  Palaeozoic  periods." 
("  Life  and  Letters,"  IL,  248.)  But  science,  also,  is 
wholly  a  thing  in  the  mind.  It  did  not  exist  in  the 
Palaeozoic  age,  or  even,  as  to  the  present  conception 
of  it,  in  the  pre-Darwinian  period.  Nevertheless, 
physical  science  is  a  reality,  because  its  facts  and 
laws  exist  in  nature.  The  scientist  simply  finds  out 
what  has  been  created  or  evolved  in  the  universe 
from  the  beginning,  and,  if  he  can,  how  it  has  come 
into  being.  So  far  as  he  succeeds,  the  beautiful 
order  of  the  cosmos  becomes  a  present  reality  to 
him,  though  before  unperceived  and  unenjoyed. 
Likewise,  visible  and  audible  beauty  has  always 
existed,  potentially  as  regards  man,  really  as  re- 
gards the  forms  and  forces  which  condition  it  and 
awaken  the  perception  of  it,  when  sentient  intelli- 
gence is  fixed  upon  it.  Beautiful  forms,  colors,  and 
sounds  have  doubtless  always  been  in  this  every- 
where beautiful  universe.  Rhythmic  vibrations  in 
the  air,  together  with  symmetry  of  visual  forms  in 
space  and  in  certain  atomic  arrangements  of  sur- 
faces and  gases,  have  only  awaited  the  perceiving 
mind  of  man  to  recognize,  investigate,  and  enjoy 


THE  BEAUTIFIER  OF  TIME       125 

their  product.  There  was  no  perception  of  either 
aesthetic  or  scientific  facts  in  the  secondary  geologic 
period,  and  but  Uttlc,  comparatively,  before  quite 
recent  times.  Future  generations  may  say  the  same 
of  our  own  days.  Yet  the  unspeakable  joy  of  men 
in  the  beautiful,  and  also  the  wonder-working  agency 
of  science  give  ample  evidence  of  their  reality,  and 
demand  an  adequate  explanation  of  their  facts  in 
terms  of  causality. 

Beauty  has  no  sufficient  ground  in  utihty.  The 
infinite  diversity  of  artistic  shapes  assumed  by 
leaves,  flowers,  vines,  trees,  feathers,  scales,  furs, 
crystals,  and  the  larger  organic  forms,  is  not  suffi- 
ciently explained  by  the  uses  they  often  subserve  in 
nutrition,  reproduction,  and  preservation.  Darwin 
not\vithstanding,  each  particular  curve  of  a  hum- 
ming-bird's beak,  each  rainbow  hue  on  scale  of 
fish  or  feather  of  bird,  cannot  be  necessary  to  sur- 
vival. The  exquisite  symphony  in  crimson  and 
gold  of  the  autumn  foliage  has  no  such  value.  A 
blotch  of  raw  color  on  shapeless  petals  would  attract 
bees ;  but,  lo,  in  a  single  blossom  a  little  world  of 
beauty,  and  in  the  floral  kingdom  galaxies  of  mani- 


124  GODANDMUSIC 

fold  perfection.  A  raucous  croak  or  a  discordant 
howl  would  sufficiently  announce  the  nearness  of 
lover  or  foe,  and  associated  memories  of  experience 
would  do  the  rest.  Yet  in  this  one  tiny  out-of-the- 
way  planet  there  is  an  increasing  concert  of  sweet 
sounds  innumerable,  rising  with  man  to  the  height 
of  a  heavenly  art,  having  clear  spiritual  implications 
and  incalculable  possibilities.  The  closely  correlated 
conditions  of  visible  and  audible  beauty  are  present 
everywhere,  and  the  realization  of  both  is  well  nigh 
universal.  Human  eyes  see  and  human  ears  hear 
but  a  millionth  part  of  that  actually  realized  of 
either  kind.  The  thought  cannot  but  arise  and 
compel  assent  that,  if  there  is  a  Creator  who  has  so 
framed  the  universe  that  simple  aerial  vibrations  of 
high  and  low  frequencies  constantly  produce  such 
effects  on  eye,  ear,  brain,  and  soul,  and  yet  but  the 
smallest  fraction  of  all  this  beauty,  actual  or  potential, 
is  seen  or  heard  by  man,  the  chief  purpose  of  its 
existence  is  to  delight  its  Maker.  Man  in  his 
studies  and  works  seeks  beauty  for  its  own  sake. 
Why  not  God  ?  "  He  that  planted  the  ear,  shall  he 
not  hear  ?  He  that  formed  the  eye,  shall  he  not 
see  ?  "     The  sense  of  beauty,  may  it  not  be  "  God's 


THE  BEAUTIFIER   OF  TIME       125 

satisfaction  in  his  works "  imparted  to  man,  or 
"  God  in  us,  rejoicing  in  his  perfect  thought "  ? 
The  contemplation  of  perfect  beauty  gives  a  satis- 
faction of  mind  and  heart  which  serves  to  explain 
the  creative  mood  and  motive  in  the  production  of 
the  beautiful  by  divine  or  by  human  hands.  If  on 
some  parts  of  creation  the  Almighty  has  allowed 
the  prentice  hand  of  angel  or  demiurge  to  try  its 
skill,  thus  accounting  for  signs  of  imperfect  work- 
manship (better  explained  by  other  theories)  which 
some  think  to  detect  here  or  there  in  nature, 
this  cannot  be  said  of  the  manifestations  of  a 
beauty-loving  Mind  everywhere  perceptible.  Here 
assuredly  is  no  failure.  Here  is  ideal  perfec- 
tion. 

If  we  look  at  things  with  thought  for  their  pur- 
pose, and  as  they  finally  interpret  themselves  to  the 
heart,  we  shall  agree  with  Professor  Santayana,  that 
"  beauty  is  of  all  things  what  least  calls  for  explana- 
tion." Since  all  being  tends  toward  completion — 
we  may  even  dare  to  say  perfection — beauty  seems 
to  be  the  ideal  manifestation  of  this  final  cause  of 
being,  and  also  the  direct  evidence  of  its  possible 
attainment.     Hence  all  beauty  of  form  or  of  spirit 


126  GOD  AND   MUSIC 

/ITas  a  moral  dignity  and  importance  which  should 
/ 

exalt  it  above  low  and  selfish  uses.     It  is  "  a  pledge 

of  the  possible  conformity  between  the  soul  and 
nature,"  yes,  and  nature's  God,  its  self-revealing 
Author.  We  may  see  in  it,  therefore,  a  ground  of 
faith  in  the  ultimate  supremacy  of  good.  "  Our 
souls,"  in  the  words  of  Brother  Azarias,  "  are  so 
attuned  as  to  give  out  a  music  responsive  to  the 
chords  that  are  touched."  The  aesthetic  sense, 
which  is  as  innate  as  physical  taste  or  touch,  has 
for  its  special  function  to  elevate,  refine,  and  spirit- 
ualize the  lower  nature  of  man.  A  faculty  so  im- 
portant and  so  universal  must,  by  every  principle 
of-- science,  have  a  corresponding  reality  to  occupy 
it,  and  a  high  office  which  indicates  its  true 
purpose. 

Beauty  of  every  kind  is  a  touch  of  the  ideal,  an 
overt  hint  of  perfection,  a  breath  out  of  the  infinite 
coming  to  man  in  the  dull  round  of  practical  life,  to 
show  which  way  he  is  to  turn  and  strive  after  the 
perfect  joy  of  existence.  More  than  any  other  art, 
far  more  than  formal  logic  or  the  physical  sciences, 
music  suggests  the  infinite,  and  allures  through  sense 
to  the  supersensual.     The  priceless  susceptibility  to 


THE   BEAUTIFIER  OF  TIME       127 

the  beautiful,  in  this  or  in  any  of  its  forms,  has  been 
well  said  to  be  so  much  surplusage  of  creative  good- 
ness. Professor  Huxley  once  wrote,  "A  vast 
multitude  of  pleasures,  and  those  among  the  purest 
and  best,  are  superfluities,  bits  of  good  which  are  to 
all  appearance  unnecessary  as  inducements  to  live, 
and  are,  so  to  speak,  thrown  into  the  bargain  of  life. 
Few  delights  can  be  more  entrancing  tlian  such  as 
are  afforded  by  natural  beauty,  or  by  tlie  arts,  and 
especially  by  music,  but  they  are  products  of, 
rather  than  factors  in,  evolution."  In  the  same 
strain  Goldwin  Smith  says,  "  It  would  be  difficult  to 
account  for  beauty,  or  the  sense  of  beauty,  by  phys- 
ical evolution ;  while  their  presence  and  the  charm 
which  they  throw  over  hfe  seem  to  bespeak  a  cer- 
tain tenderness  on  the  part  of  the  Being  in  whose 
power  we  are,  which  softens  the  stern  aspect  of 
evolution."  Music  is  well  called  by  Isaac  L.  Rice 
"  The  Beautifier  of  Time."  Its  goodly  office  is  "  to 
adorn  the  ever-moving  space  of  existence."  What 
visible  beauty  is  commissioned  to  do  for  the  element 
of  Space,  that  Music  is  sent  to  do  for  Time,  which 
is  yet  more  intimately  and  fundamentally  connected 
with  Life. 


128  GOD   AND    MUSIC 

In  both  the  contemplation  of  beauty  and  the 
power  to  think  some  of  God's  aesthetic  thoughts 
over  again  in  a  halting,  reproductive  way,  man 
comes  very  close  to  the  great  Lover  of  Beauty. 
The  beautiful,  as  interpreted  to  the  human  spirit,  is 
a  frank  reveaUng  of  the  Divine  mind  and  heart. 
Its  perfect  analogue  can  be  found  only  in  the 
inmost  nature  of  Deity.  That  man  can  perceive 
and  recreate  it  proves  his  kinship  to  its  primal 
Author. 

The  first  appeal  of  the  beautiful  is,  indeed,  to 
the  senses,  because  all  mental  impressions  must 
commonly  come,  in  the  first  instance,  through  their 
five-barred  gate.  But  pure  beauty  in  the  realms 
of  light  and  sound  quickly  Ufts  the  willing  soul 
above  the  sensual.  And  to  share  the  Creator's 
prerogative  of  producing  new  forms  of  the  beauti- 
ful, tends  directly  to  intellectuaUze  and  spiritualize 
the  genuine  artist.  The  inescapably  severe  condi- 
tions of  artistic  production  compel  self-mastery,  and 
dedication  to  the  higher  strains  of  life.  The  sense 
of  beauty  is  at  its  lowest  among  peoples  of  low  in- 
telligence, nearest  the  animal  level.  It  develops 
with  the  growth  of  intellect,  and  is  associated  with, 


THE   BEAUTIFIER   OF  TIME       129 

and  promotive  of,  moral  improvement.  It  really 
seems  to  be  a  prize  which  God  gives  to  intelligent 
beings  when  contemplating  his  most  perfect  works, 
and  striving  after  some  likeness  to  the  ideal  excel- 
lence they  display. 

Any  sufficient  answer  to  the  inevitable  question, 
What  is  Beauty?  will  lead  straight  toward  its 
Source.  Its  cause  and  essential  secret  have  been 
the  quest  of  all  thinkers  susceptible  to  its  power. 
So  evidently  is  it  something  in  mind,  and  acci- 
dental to  matter,  tliat  it  bears  a  plain  stamp  of  the 
spiritual. 

Plato  held  that  beauty  consists  of  self-existent 
forms  or  ideas  superinduced  upon  matter,  which 
are  in  truth  the  real  beauty  of  beautiful  objects. 
Its  immediate  cause,  in  Leveque's  theory,  is  a  sim- 
ple force  distinct  from  matter,  yet  setting  it  in  mo- 
tion, vivifying  it,  and  reducing  it  to  beautiful  forms. 
"The  splendor  of  truth,"  Samuel  Harris  calls  it; 
"  ideal  perfection  revealed  to  the  reason  in  some 
particular  object  or  combination  of  objects."  All 
beauty  is  in  its  essence  spiritual.  In  it  perfection 
looks  us  in  the  eye,  utters  itself  to  the  ear.     Since 


I30  GOD   AND   MUSIC 

tones,  forms,  and  colors  have  been  found  close 
akin,  audible  beauty,  as  certainly  as  visual  loveli- 
ness, points  direct  to  the  one  Being  in  whom  alone 
perfection  dwells.  Reid  is  right,  therefore,  in  say- 
ing that  the  first  cause  of  either  is  a  divine  Being 
whose  volition  immediately  invests  material  objects, 
sounds  and  forms  alike,  with  all  their  beautiful 
aspects.  And  so,  beauty  is  nothing  less  than  a 
revelation  of  the  Unconditioned,  a  manifestation  of 
the  divine  thought. 

Existing  at  once  in  nature  and  in  the  mind, 
Wundt  concludes  that  "  the  beautiful  speaks  to  us 
of  the  profound  agreement  of  the  laws  of  the  ex- 
ternal with  the  laws  of  the  internal ;  the  two  are 
one  in  nature,  and  our  intuition  alone  makes  and 
keeps  them  separate."  Unity  in  variety,  which 
may  also  be  stated  as  variety  in  unity,  is  its  ground 
principle,  recognized  from  Plato  down.  Harmony 
of  the  unlike  yet  accordant  is  the  secret  of  all 
beauty,  visible,  audible,  or  psychical.  It  is  the 
cause  of  mental  satisfaction  and  spiritual  reconcile- 
ment, bringing  repose,  delight,  and  elevation  in  its 
train. 

Universal  order,  in  atoms  and  in  worlds,  is  a  dis^ 


THE   BEAUTIFIER   OF  TIME       131 

closure  of  the  cosmic  principle  of  Beauty,  which  is 
thus  shown  to  be  a  definite  end  in  nature.  The 
uniform  effort  of  the  disturbed  order  to  right  itself, 
by  reversion  to  type,  the  resolution  of  discords,  the 
natural  vis  medicatrix,  and  life  always  springing 
out  of  death,  is  evidence  of  this.  All  nature  is 
"  an  apocalypse  of  the  Beautiful."  Harmony  and 
the  joy  in  it  are  its  deep,  glad  purpose.  This  is  the 
invisible  force 

"  That  meets  all  motion  and  becomes  its  soul, 
A  light  in  sound,  a  sound-like  power  in  light, 
Rhjrthm  in  all  thought  and  jojance  everywhere." 

Poets  and  artists,  to  expand  William  Knight's 
setting  of  a  well-known  truth,  "  take  us  nearer  the 
heart  of  things  than  the  chemist  or  the  physicist. 
They  see  life  beneath  all  forces,  a  life  like  our  own 
yet  far  higher  and  more  perfect.  Art  thus  bridges 
the  chasm  between  the  concrete  and  the  ideal,  and 
brings  us  into  touch  with  the  Infinite."  This  is 
true  of  all  true  art.  Music,  however,  suggests  the 
infinite  of  spirit,  and  to  some  minds  expresses  it, 
as  no  other  art,  neither  science,  philosophy,  nor 
metaphysics  can  do.  Browning's  words  are  not 
extravagant : 


132  GOD   AND   MUSIC 

"  There  is  no  truer  truth  obtained  by  man 
Than  comes  by  music," 

The  audible  cosmos  reveals  through  sense  to 
mind  the  divine  unity  in  variety.  Every  note  with 
its_overtones  is  already  a  harmony,  enriched  by 
mystic  dissonances.  Regularity,  symmetry,  and 
expression  are  the  body,  soul,  and  spirit  of  music, 
and  the  threefold  source  of  its  power.  Mathematical 
ratios  in  part  explain  the  first  two,  but  the  secret  of 
musical  beauty  is  far  deeper.  The  Great  Mathe- 
matician is  not  all  intellect,  but  is  a  full-orbed  Spirit 
with  a  nature  of  purest  love,  seeking  through  the 
beauty  of  holiness  the  perfecting  of  his  imperfect 
children.  Music  manifests  the  order  of  the  uni- 
verse in  all  its  tones  and  forms,  but  accompanying 
these  there  is  often  a  mysterious  potency  which  can 
be  ascribed  only  to  inspiration.  The  immediate 
cause  of  this  has  been  represented,  as  "  that  primi- 
tive and  mysterious  power,  whose  mode  of  action 
will  be  forever  hidden  from  us,  by  which  a  theme,  a 
melody,  flashes  into  the  composer's  mind,"  The 
soul  of  music,  which  alone  gives  it  expression  and 
■power  over  the  heart,  is  something  spiritual  and 
divine. 


THE  BEAUTIFIER   OF  TIME       133 

If  anything  is  certain  in  our  reasoning  upon  the 
audible  phenomena  of  nature,  it  is  that  musical 
beauty  is  not  a  mathematical  product.  It  satisfies 
mathematical  canons,  but  is  no  more  their  crea- 
ture than  a  sunset  is  the  product  of  optical 
formulae.  The  most  that  can  be  conceded  is  the 
half  mystical,  half  arithmetical  dictum  of  Leib- 
nitz, that  music  is  "  a  calculation  which  the  soul 
makes  unconsciously  in  secret."  But  the  soul  is  the 
chief  and  original  factor  in  the  process.  Th^ 
m«»rTipniV^  piano-plflying  ^"'cc^  whi^h  abound, 
can  of  themselves  create  music  just  as  much  as  a 
printing  press  can  create  an  epic,  and  no  more.  If 
the  music  is  not  first  in  the  soul,  it  will  never  lay 
hold  of  the  atmosphere  with  its  rhythmic  compul- 
sion, and  make  it  speak  to  other  souls  things  un- 
utterable. 

No  writer  on  musical  aesthetics  has  seen  deeper 
or  truer  than  Eduard  Hanslick,  and  he  declares 
that  musical  beauty  has  nothing  at  all  to  do  with 
mathematics.  "  In  a  tone  poem  nothing  is  calcu- 
lated mathematically.  Creations  of  the  fancy  are 
not  arithmetical  problems.  All  monochord  experi- 
ments, sound-figures,  proportions  of  intervals,  etc.. 


134  GOD   AND   MUSIC 

are  out  of  place  here.  The  department  of  aesthet- 
ics begins  where  these  elementary  relations  cease. 
Mathematics  prepares  only  the  simple  material  for 
intellectual  treatment,  and  remains  concealed  in  the 
simplest  relations ;  but  musical  conceptions  come  to 
light  without  its  assistance.  What  converts  music 
into  a  tone  poem,  and  raises  it  out  of  the  category 
of  physical  experiments,  is  something  free  and 
spiritual,  and  therefore  something  incalculable." 

Classic  conceptions  of  the  beautiful  centred  in 
its  formal  elements,  rhythm,  harmony,  and  pro- 
portion. Modern  thought  emphasizes  its  express- 
iveness, sees  or  hears  in  it  an  utterance  of  spirit. 
An  analytical  definition  of  beauty  must  include 
both  the  numerical  and  the  spiritual,  but  the  spirit- 
ual is  its  very  essence,  and  its  source  of  greatest 
power.  Musical  beauty  is  self-subsistent,  apart 
from  its  effects.  Its  spiritual  essence  finds  outlet 
and  influence  through  the  positive  beauty  of  its 
forms.  If  unbeautiful,  if  monotonous  or  unhar- 
monious,  it  wearies  or  irritates.  Feeling  belongs 
preeminently  to  the  beautiful ;  hence  music  is  an 
elect  agent  for  the  production  of  emotion.  In  its 
tones  and  forms  spirit  speaks  to  spirit. 


THE   BEAUTIFIER  OF  TIME       135 

The  immediate  effect  of  music,  it  is  true,  does 
not  always  depend  upon  the  pcrfectness  of  its 
forms.  Crude,  monophonic  music,  with  more 
rhythm  than  melody,  and  entirely  devoid  of  har- 
mony, will  stir  the  savage  or  half-civilized  breast 
as  the  most  accurate  polyphonic  compositions  can- 
not, even  with  cultivated  hearers.  The  simplest 
tone-forms  rendered  with  fury  or  with  deep  pathos, 
affect  the  elemental  passions  of  primitive  natures  in 
an  inverse  ratio  to  the  power  of  the  best  music  over 
intellectual  and  critical  listeners. 

Like  every  other  force  operating  on  mind,  such^ 
as  poetry,  eloquence,  or  personal  beauty,  the  power 
of  music  is  subjective  and  individual.  It  depends 
on  the  stage  of  development  and  the  law  of  associ- 
ation. A  crude  national  instrument,  a  simple  folk- 
song, a  homely  ballad  freighted  with  tender  mem- 
ories, will  move  those  susceptible  to  their  specific 
tones  in  a  degree  utterly  out  of  proportion  to  their 
musical  quality.  This  is  proof,  at  once,  of  the  in- 
herent power  of  tonal  beauty,  and  of  the  divine 
beneficence  which  has  made  its  ministry  universal. 
It  is  not  chiefly  for  an  aristocracy  of  culture,  but  is 
for  the  joy  and  welfare  of  mankind. 


136  GOD  AND   MUSIC 

Science,  it  has  been  said,  is  superhuman  in  that, 
hke  Jacob's  ladder,  it  rests  upon  the  world  of  sense, 
while  its  top  reaches  into  the  realm  of  spirit.  Mu- 
sic partakes  of  this  twofold  character.  Its  forms 
start  on  the  common  level  of  physical  agencies, 
but  carry  the  mind  upward  and  still  upward  into 
spiritual  regions.  It  is  superior  to  bald  science  in 
that  on  its  ascending  scale  of  tones  angels  of  joy 
and  blessing  descend  to  fill  the  dreamer's  soul  with 
echoes  of  heaven's  own  harmonies.  Handel  felt 
himself  inspired  to  write  the  majestic  strains  of  the 
Hallelujah  Chorus,  so  that  he  could  say,  "  I  did 
think  that  I  did  see  all  heaven  before  me,  and  the 
great  God  himself! " 

A  belief  held  by  many  of  the  noblest  thinkers, 
and  called  by  Charles  Kingsley  the  "  great  Mysti- 
cism," is  that  all  symmetrical  natural  forms  are 
types  of  some  spiritual  truth  or  existence.  Every- 
thing, Kingsley  thought,  is  full  of  God's  reflex,  if 
we  but  perceive  it.  "  Oh,  to  see  it  but  for  a  mo- 
ment, the  whole  harmony  of  the  great  system !  to 
hear  once  the  music  which  the  whole  universe 
makes  as  it  performs  his  bidding!  When  I  feel 
this  sense  of  the  mystery  which  is  around  me,  I 


THE  BEAUTIFIER  OF  TIME       137 

feci  a  gush  of  enthusiasm  toward  God  which  seems 
its  inseparable  effect."  Is  not  this  mood  often  in- 
duced by  the  feehng  of  sublimity  peculiar  to  man- 
kind when  under  the  influence  of  the  grander  dis- 
plays of  natural  forces,  or  of  the  loftiest  mental 
conceptions?  Animals  seem  never  to  show  this 
feeling  in  the  least.  It  may  be  regarded  as  the 
shadow  of  the  infinite  passing  over  the  human  soul. 
The  music  of  Beethoven  and  Handel,  or  the  up- 
rising of  volumes  of  grand  harmony  from  thou- 
sands of  voices,  produce  this  effect,  and  both 
humble  and  exalt  the  mind  capable  of  being  so 
impressed.  It  is  Uke  coming  into  the  audience- 
chamber  of  the  Almighty. 

In  Augustine's  phrase,  all  things  bright  and 
beautiful  are  "  footprints  of  the  uncreated  Wisdom." 
A  scientific  writer  of  our  own  day,  speaking  with 
acknowledged  authority,  says,  "  The  fact  that  Na- 
ture is  beautiful  to  us,  that  its  action  meets  a  swift 
response  in  our  minds,  is  best  explained,  indeed  is 
hardly  explicable  otherwise,  by  supposing  that  its 
informing  spirit  is  akin  to  our  own.  Because  of 
our  intellect  we  are  forced  to  suppose  a  like  quality 
in  the  Power  that  shaped  us."     In  the  tone  world 


138  GOD  AND   MUSIC 

all  lovely  and  uplifting  music  is  thus  both  echo  and 
evidence  of  perfect  musical  thought  and  feeling  in 
the  Oversoul  of  the  universe.  If  the  shattered 
colonnades  of  the  Parthenon  attest,  beyond  doubt, 
an  architect  intelligent  and  artistic,  the  broken  mu- 
sic of  earth  no  less  demonstrates  a  creative  Mind 
capable  of  devising  an  art  so  far  above  the  reach 
of  the  merely  human,  so  full  of  spiritual  meaning 
and  potency.  To  hear  as  well  as  to  behold  "  the 
beauty  of  the  Lord  "  is  the  sacred  privilege  of  all 
who  possess  musical  sensibility.  And  that  the 
aesthetic  nature  was  given  us,  not  for  selfish  enjoy- 
ment alone,  or  for  inducing  mere  self-culture,  but 
to  assimilate  the  human  soul  to  its  Maker,  and  to 
be  a  means  for  attaining  the  beauty  of  holiness,  is 
plainly  indicated  by  that  remarkable  prayer  of  old, 
"And  let  the  beauty  of  the  Lord  our  God  be 
upon  us." 


THE  POWER  OF  MUSIC 


"  Music  can  noble  hints  impart, 
Engender  fury,  kindle  love, 
With  unsuspected  eloquence  can  move 
And  manage  all  the  man  with  secret  art." 

— Addison. 

'•  O  strange,  sweet  power. 
Ineffable,  O  gracious  influence, 
I  know  not  whence  thou  art,  but  this  I  know : 
Thou  boldest  in  thy  hand  the  silver  key 
That  can  unlock  the  secret  fount  of  tears. 
Which  falling  make  life  green,  the  hidden  spring 
Of  purer  fancies  and  high  sympathies." 

— Lewis  Morris. 

"And  therefore  I  said,  Glaucon,  musical  training  is  a  more  po- 
tent instrument  than  any  other,  because  rhythm  and  harmony  find 
their  way  into  the  secret  places  of  the  soul,  on  which  they  mightily 
fasten,  imparting  grace,  and  making  the  soul  graceful  of  him  who 
is  rightly  educated,  or  ungraceful  of  him  who  is  ill-educated." 
— Plato. 

"  Music  doth  withdraw  our  minds  from  earthly  cogitations, 
lifteth  up  our  spirits  to  heaven,  and  maketh  them  light  and  celes- 
tial. ' ' — ClIR  YSOSTOM. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE   POWER   OF   MUSIC 

The  philosophy  of  the  twentieth  century  is  dy- 
namic. Science  is  its  foster-mother  and  servant. 
Civilization  again  obeys  the  principle  of  major 
force.  The  persistence  and  interrelations  of  phys- 
ical energy  give  law  to  thought,  and  supply  the 
conditions  of  material  progress.  Back  of  all  is  an 
infinite  Power,  a  Power  at  the  very  least  adequate 
to  the  origination  and  maintenance  of  all  the  active 
forces  at  work  in  the  universe.  No  finite  force  is 
autogenetic  or  really  automatic.  All  motivity  must 
come  from  an  exhaustless  fountain  of  energy. 

Music  is  a  constant  power  in  human  life,  exercis- 
ing a  spiritual  force  so  vast,  varied,  and  generally 
beneficial,  that  it  demands  explanation  under  the 
principle  of  casuality.  This  argument  may  appeal 
to  the  children  of  the  Dynamic  Age,  when  ordinary 
theistic  reasoning  fails  to  convince. 

Spiritual  effects  must  have  a  spiritual  cause.  In 
141 


142  GOD  AND   MUSIC 

human  experience  it  is  true  that  they  are  condi- 
tioned by  physical  environment  and  agencies.  In 
the  present  stage  of  organic  life,  brain,  nerve,  and 
nerve  stimuli  are  essential  to  the  thinking  process. 
Music  reaches  mind  and  stirs  emotion  only  through 
physical  media,  the  voice,  fingers,  strings,  keys, 
and  the  sympathetic  air.  But  its  effects  on  thought, 
feeling,  and  action,  are  often  so  astonishingly  great 
that  the  mechanical  energy  employed,  even  allow- 
ing for  nervous  reinforcement,  is  utterly  inadequate 
to  their  production.  The  physical  agency  and  the 
spiritual  result  are  disparate ;  they  belong  to  differ- 
ent realms. 

The  energy  liberated  and  made  efficient  by 
sound-producing  causes,  is  sometimes,  indeed,  well- 
nigh  incalculable.  Darwin  states  that  the  notes  of 
certain  small  insects  may  be  heard  on  still  nights  a 
mile  away.  The  tremor  of  atmosphere  caused  by 
them,  he  estimated,  must  affect  from  five  to  ten 
miUion  tons  of  matter,  while  the  insect  weighs  not 
more  than  quarter  of  a  pennyweight.  What  would 
be  the  quantitative  result  of  the  aerial  disturbance 
caused  by  a  combined  band  of  ten  thousand  per- 
formers, might  be  an  interesting  arithmetical  prob- 


THE   POWER  OF  MUSIC  143 

lem,  but  would  have  absolutely  nothing  to  do  with 
explaining  the  spiritual  efTect  of  some  single  tone  or 
strain  of  music.  The  psychic  increment  impera- 
tively demands  a  coordinate  cause  sufficient  to  pro- 
duce it. 

Nerve  excitation  by  infinitesimal  air-waves  ex- 
plains the  mechanical  part  of  the  process,  but  not 
the  content  of  spiritual  energy  produced.  Neural 
thrill  is  not  sufficient  to  account  for  the  specific  and 
widely  varied  quality  of  the  eflfect,  nor  for  its  thou- 
sandfold intensity,  its  uplifting,  transforming,  reflex, 
and  impressional  influence.  Only  on  the  theory 
that  the  psychical  is  always  a  mere  product  of  phys- 
ical forces,  in  the  last  analysis  a  refined  form  of 
motion  in  space,  can  the  essentially  spiritual  essence 
of  music  be  denied,  or  its  first  cause  not  be  traced 
to  the  Father  of  spirits.  None  but  a  music-loving 
and  benevolent  God  could  have  so  filled  the  uni- 
verse with  melodic  and  harmonic  elements,  and 
constituted  the  mind  of  man  to  discover,  appreciate, 
and  truly  create  the  system  and  forms  of  this  won- 
derful art. 

Considering  only  man's  part  in  its  development, 
Hanslick  concludes,  after  a  profound  study  of  the 


\ 


144  GODANDMUSIC 

subject,  that  the  spiritual  force  of  music  can  be  at- 
tributed solely  to  "  the  definite  beauty  of  musical 
form,  as  the  result  of  the  untrammeled  working  of 
the  human  mind  on  material  susceptible  of  intel- 
lectual manipulation."  To  this  must  be  added  the 
power  of  association,  and  still  more,  the  transference 
from  soul  to  soul  of  mental  moods,  passional  im- 
pulses, and  spiritual  states,  through  the  sensitive 
medium  of  musical  tones  and  forms.  Beyond  and 
above  these  factors,  must  there  not  be  recognized 
throughout  the  history  of  music  in  its  effects  on 
mankind,  and  in  numberless  cases  of  individual  bet- 
terment under  its  influence,  the  manifest  agency  of 
a  divine  Spirit  choosing  this  congenial  medium  of 
V,   communion  with  the  souls  of  men  ? 

Fable,  legend,  history,  and  experience  combine  to 
illustrate  the  extraordinary  effect  of  musical  sounds 
on  man  and  beast.  Next  to  sun-myths  and  the 
kindred  worship  of  the  reproductive  agency  in 
nature,  comes,  in  universality  and  significance,  the 
early  recognition  of  this  potent  force.  The  worlds 
in  space  were  believed  to  have  been  framed  by  a 
rhythmic   impulse   of  musical   vibration,  cities   to 


THE   POWER  OF  MUSIC  145 

have  been  founded  and  destroyed  under  its  con- 
straining might,  and  both  gods  and  men  to  be  sub- 
ject to  its  control.  The  fable  of  Orpheus  embodies 
the  ancient  conception  of  the  power  of  music,  and 
vividly  suggests  the  extreme  primitive  susceptibility 
to  its  charms.  When  not  only  wild  beasts,  but  the 
trees  and  rocks  on  Olympus  were  said  to  be  en- 
thralled and  moved  at  will  by  his  lyre,  the  meaning 
evidently  is  that  human  passions  are  especially 
amenable  to  the  neuro-psychical  influence  of  music. 
This  mental  attitude  was  still  more  strikingly  illus- 
trated by  the  story  of  the  Argonauts  and  the  legend 
of  Eurydice  in  Hades.  When  Orpheus  played  upon 
his  lyre, «'  the  heart  of  Pluto  relented  and  Eurydice 
escaped,  the  wheel  of  Ixion  stopped,  the  vultures 
ceased  to  torment  Tityos,  the  thirst  of  Tantalus  was 
forgotten,  and  the  goddess  of  death  did  not  remem- 
ber to  call  away  the  infant  or  the  aged  from  sweet 
hfe." 

In  our  prosaic  days  the  language  of  fable  seems 
unreal ;  but  the  positive  assertion  of  the  equivalent 
spiritual  fact  by  the  deepest  thinkers  attests  the  sub- 
stantial truth  it  conveyed.  Plato,  Aristotle,  Con- 
fucius,   Shakespeare,    Luther,    Napoleon,    Goethe, 


146  GOD  AND   MUSIC 

Wesley,  and  Moody,  out  of  a  multitude  of  leaders 
of  men,  represent  widely  different  types  of  thought, 
but  are  one  in  ascribing  exceptional  value  and  power 
to  this  art. 

Confucius  believed  with  his  educated  countrymen 
that  music  acts  directly  on  the  mind  without  the 
medium  of  thought.  After  listening  to  the  com- 
positions of  Quel  he  refused  to  partake  of  food,  and 
for  three  months  would  think  of  nothing  but  what 
he  had  heard.  "  Desire  ye  to  know,"  he  asked, 
"  whether  a  land  is  well  governed,  and  its  people 
have  good  morals  ?     Hear  its  music." 

The  Hindus  esteemed  music  to  be  a  creation  of 
the  gods,  and  called  it  god-compelling,  the  peer  of 
prayer  and  sacrifice.  The  Ragas,  or  musical  modes, 
had  specific  magical  powers,  constraining  men,  ani- 
mals, and  inanimate  nature  to  obey  them.  One 
Raga  could  produce  rain,  another  could  eclipse  the 
sun ;  one  charmed  serpents,  and  another,  lions  and 
tigers.  All  this  signified  the  power  of  music  over 
sentient  beings,  and  especially  upon  human  passions. 
Pythagoras  enjoined  its  practice,  since  it  purifies 
the  soul.  Plato  gave  music  a  high  place  in  his 
Republic.     He  used  terms  regarding  its  civicx  value 


J' 


THE   POWER   OF  MUSIC  147 

almost  identical  with  those  of  Confucius.  Cicero 
thought  him  rather  ultra  in  his  Latinized  saying, 
"  musicortjm  cantibus  mutatis  mutari  civitatum 
status-" ;  which  may  be  rendered,  "  change  of 
songs  changes  states."  Aristotle  held  that  music 
acts  on  minds  in  a  primary,  the  other  .aate  only  in  a 
secondary  manner. 

The  thousand-minded  modern  dramatist  made 
susceptibility  to  music  a  guage  of  moral  sanity. 
Luther  exalted  it  above  all  other  arts,  and  called  it 
the  most  magnificent  present  of  God  to  men. 
Napoleon's  opinion  was  that  "  of  all  the  liberal 
arts,  music  has  greatest  influence  over  the  emotions 
and  is  the  art  to  which  the  lawmaker  should  give 
great  attention."  Perhaps  it  would  have  been  well 
for  him  and  for  the  world  had  he  yielded  more  in 
heart  and  life  to  the  "  only  art  that  can  draw  tears." 
Bismarck  declared  that  German  song  was  one  of 
the  chief  agents  in  bringing  about  German  unity. 
He  said,  "  It  was  not  the  size  of  our  army  but  its 
spirit  that  enabled  us  to  conquer.  For  this  reason 
I  hope  no  one  will  in  future  undervalue  the  power 
of  music  in  arousing  courage  and  devotion." 

The    indescribable   influence  of   some   national 


148  GODANDMUSIC 

hymns  in  exciting  the  utmost  bravery  and  en- 
thusiastic patriotism  has  been  shown  on  ten  thou- 
sand battlefields.  The  Marseillaise  has  been  the 
song  of  victory  or  of  death  for  French  soldiers  a 
hundred  years  and  more.  "  God  save  the  Queen" 
has  been  sung  even  with  their  last  breath  by  brave 
Britons  on  land  and  sea  in  every  part  of  the  globe, 
"  A  plain  tale  of  plain  men  "  in  Matabeleland,  an 
American  journalist  has  truly  said  to  be  as  thrilling 
as  any  saga  of  Odin  and  his  heroes.  A  little  band 
of  Englishmen  was  entrapped  by  the  wily  Loben- 
gula,  with  six  thousand  men  against  their  thirty- 
four.  When  the  last  cartridges  were  in  their 
revolvers  they  stood  up  in  full  view  of  their  slayers, 
reverently  bared  their  heads  and  sang  their  national 
hymn.  Said  one  of  the  Matabele  leaders  after- 
ward, "  We  were  so  amazed  to  see  men  singing  in 
the  face  of  death,  we  knew  not  what  to  do.  At  last 
we  rushed.  They  shot  us  till  the  last  cartridge, 
and  most  of  them  shot  themselves  with  that.  But 
those  who  had  none  left  just  covered  up  their  eyes 
and  died  without  a  sound.  Child  of  a  white  man, 
your  people  know  how  to  fight  and  how  to  die." 
That  was,  indeed, "  a  crowded  hour  of  glorious  life." 


THE   POWER  OF  MUSIC  149 

Those  men,  adds  the  narrator  of  the  heroic  story, 
"  had  no  reason  to  think,  and  did  not  think,  that 
their  death-song  would  ever  be  heard  by  other  ears 
than  those  of  their  destroyers.  Their  deed  was  not 
bravado,  but  modest,  loyal  duty.  But  their  voices 
will  henceforth  Uve  in  coundess  throbbing  hearts, 
and  their  valor  will  make  life  and  the  world  nobler 
to  all  their  fellow-men." 

The  history  of  our  Civil  War  cannot  be  written 
without  a  chapter  on  the  part  played  in  it,  on 
either  side,  by  the  martial  lyrics  and  songs  of  home, 
love,  and  patriotism  called  forth  by  the  stem  con- 
test A  multitude  of  brave  men  on  each  side 
died  for  their  cause  and  country  to  the  strains  of 
national  songs  or  Christian  hymns. 

Of  the  Indian  tribes  lingering  in  the  far  West 
their  faithful  friend,  Alice  Fletcher,  has  written 
from  full  knowledge  of  their  character  and  customs. 
She  says, "  There  is  not  a  phase  of  life  among  them 
that  does  not  find  its  subjective  expression  in  music. 
Song  nerves  the  warrior  to  deeds  of  heroism,  and 
robs  death  of  its  terrors ;  it  speeds  the  spirit  to  the 
land  of  the  hereafter,  and  solaces  those  who  live  to 
mourn.     Children  compose  ditties  for  their  games. 


ISO  GOD   AND   MUSIC 

and  young  men  add  music  to  give  zest  to  their 
sports.  The  lover  sings  his  way  to  the  maiden's 
heart,  and  the  old  man  tunefully  invokes  those 
agencies  which  can  avert  disaster  and  death." 
Few,  if  any,  other  uncivilized  peoples  have  shown 
such  appreciation  of  music.  At  the  opposite  extreme 
of  culture,  the  Teutonic  nations  carry  their  devotion 
to  it  quite  as  far,  with  all  the  added  advantage  of 
scientific  knowledge  and  inherited  artistic  wealth. 

Possible  illustration  of  the  benign  office  of  music 
and  its  power  for  good  in  all  times,  nations,  ranks, 
ages,  and  homes,  would  soon  become,  in  any  limited 
space,  impossible  of  even  reference  or  classification. 
Two  special  points  may  be  touched  upon.  One 
has  to  do  with  its  therapeutic  agency,  and  the  other 
with  its  religious  function  and  value. 

The  Egyptians  were  first  to  indicate  the  medic- 
inal qualities  of  music.  They  called  it  physic  for 
the  soul,  and  ascribed  to  it  specific  remedial  value. 
The  Persians  were  said  to  cure  various  diseases  by 
the  sound  of  the  corresponding  string  on  their  lute. 
In  their  belief  the  soul  is  purified  by  music,  and 
prepared  by  it  for  converse  with  the  spirits  of  light 


THE   POWER   OF   MUSIC  151 

around  the  throne  of  Ormuzd.  The  greatest  phi- 
losophers of  Greece  attributed  to  it  high  medicinal 
efficacy  for  body  and  mind  alike. 

In  modern  therapeutics,  both  scientific  practi- 
tioners and  charlatans  have  employed  music  as  a 
healing  agent.  The  bibliography  of  this  branch  of 
the  remedial  art  is  increasing  in  many  languages. 
Theory  has  outrun  scientific  practice  in  this  direc- 
tion, although  instances  abound  of  benefit  and  cure 
from  wisely  adapted  music.  Any  full  medical  li- 
brary furnishes  enough  verified  examples  to  warrant 
attention  from  the  profession.  In  institutions  for 
the  treatment  of  insanity  and  idiocy  the  value  of 
musical  therapeuty  is  well  known.  Saul,  Clytem- 
nestra,  Haroun  al  Raschid,  Philip  the  Second  and 
George  the  Third  were  historical  "  cases  "  indicat- 
ing at  least  the  temporary  benefit  of  such  treat- 
ment. 

Dr.  Davison,  in  the  London  Lancet  lays  down 
the  principle  that  the  human  organism  tends  to 
vibrate  synchronously  with  music.  Even  with  the 
softest  strains  the  blood  pressure  rises,  heart  ac- 
tion and  respiration  quicken.  Dr.  Albrecht  pre- 
scribed certain  tunes  as  a  diaphoretic,  and  it  is  a 


152  GOD  AND   MUSIC 

matter  of  experience  that  some  sorts  of  music  tend 
to  produce  perspiration  in  either  performer  or 
hearer.  Lichtenthal  gives  detailed  accounts  of 
cures  wrought  musically  in  cases  of  gout,  sciatica, 
epilepsy,  catalepsy,  plague,  delirium,  convulsions, 
typhus,  and  even  stupidity !  Musical  instruments, 
made  of  different  kinds  of  wood,  as,  for  example, 
of  cinnamon-tree  bark,  have  been  experimented 
with  in  the  treatment  of  various  diseases ;  but  here 
the  hmits  of  admissible  theory  are  reached. 

A  French  physician.  Dr.  Chomet,  has  written  a 
book  on  the  subject,  translated  under  the  title, 
"  Influence  of  Music  on  Health  and  Life,"  which 
contains  interesting  facts  and  suggestions,  based 
upon  a  false  theory,  derived  from  Lucretius,  that 
musical  sound  is  a  peculiar  ethereal  fluid  which  acts 
directly  on  the  parts  of  the  human  system  at  will. 
A  learned  Russian  professor  asserts  that  music  is  a 
powerful  medicine  of  the  soul,  and  that  medical 
science  will  yet  exploit  its  great  therapeutic  value. 
His  belief  is  shared  by  not  a  few  alienists  and 
musico-medical  writers.  Sporadic  use  has  long 
been  made  of  this  form  of  mental  therapeuty,  but 
its  principles  are  imperfectly  understood  as  yet,  and y 


THE   POWER  OF  M 

its  results  do  not  warrant  scientific  generalization. 
Nevertheless,  it  is  beyond  question  that  in  music 
mankind  has  a  potent  agency  for  the  restoration 
and  maintenance  of  bodily  and  mental  health.  It 
may  be  that,  in  the  near  future,  science  will  utilize 
its  power  for  the  healing  of  mind  and  body,  and  the 
healthful  discipline  of  both  in  an  intelligent  way. 
The  next  chapter  will  illustrate  this  branch  of  the 
subject  at  some  length. 

Of  the  sacred  office  and  the  incalculable  value  of 
music  in  the  rehgious  life  of  man,  volumes  would 
be  needed  even  to  sketch  the  story.  It  was  the 
first-born  of  arts,  and  was  doubtless  early  employed 
in  aiding  the  approach  of  worshippers  to  their 
recognized  deity  or  deities.  Before  men  had  a 
definite  religion  they  lifted  up  mind  and  voice  in 
adoration  of  the  powers  above  them.  Ever  since, 
strains  of  religious  music,  rude  and  superstitious,  or 
cultured  and  full  of  true  devotion,  have  ascended 
from  all  lands  on  the  globe. 

Drum  worship  and  the  bell  cultus  probably  sprang 
from  the  animistic  belief  in  an  invisible  local  spirit 
within  the  resonant  object  of  faith.     A  similar  in- 


154  GOD   AND    MUSIC 

tent  and  consciousness  of  spiritual  communion  with 
the  Author  of  the  great  gift  of  music,  would  be  a 
wondrous  aid  to  devotion  in  the  musical  forms  it 
assumes  in  our  day.  Organ,  harp,  trumpet,  and 
voice,  employed  in  the  ostensible  service  of  religion, 
sometimes  minister  more  to  the  aesthetic  sense  and 
to  personal  glorification  than  to  the  worshipful 
mood.  The  vibrational  influence  of  nerve-reaction 
accounts  for  the  immediate  effect  of  music  upon  the 
sensorium  and  the  physically  impressionable  side  of 
the  soul.  But  the  history  of  sacred  song  and  its  in- 
strumental attendant  is  too  full  of  manifest  spiritual 
power  and  blessing  to  be  wholly  explained  by  physi- 
ology. The  physical  action  and  the  spiritual  reac- 
tion are  not  equivalent.  There  is  an  ethical  and 
religious  increment  far  greater  than  any  possible 
force  contained  in  the  vibration  numbers  of  musical 
tones  employed  for  religious  purposes.  A  simple 
strain  from  a  remembered  hymn  of  untainted  youth 
has  sometimes  melted  a  brazen  heart,  and  recon- 
structed a  wrecked  life.  To  sum  up  the  effect  of 
sacred  music  in  the  history  of  the  world's  religions, 
and  that  of  myriads  of  human  souls  that  have  been 
by  its   agency  transformed,  purified,  refined,  ele- 


THE   POWER   OF   MUSIC  155 

vated,  and  cheered  on  their  way  heavenward,  would 
require  a  spiritual  mathematics  beyond  human 
reach. 

Christianity  is  the  religion  of  spiritual  song.  It 
inherited  a  magnificent  psalmody,  but  has  given 
birth  to  an  invaluable  hymnology,  and  also  to  the 
new  art  of  harmony  to  which  modern  music  owes 
the  greater  part  of  its  boundless  wealth.  Outside 
of  Christendom,  religious  music  has  hardly  shed  the 
primitive  animistic  character  of  rhythmic  noise,  and 
children's  songs  are  almost  unknown.  But  the 
Christian  religion  found  in  music  a^ongenial  ally, 
ready  to  aid  its  progress  in  the  individual  heart,  and 
in  the  world's  history.  The  thought  of  God,  of 
Christ  and4  his  cross,  of  the  Christian  graces,  and 
of  the  immortal  life,  is  entirely  consonant  with  mu- 
sical expression. 

Hebrew  psalmody  and  Christian  hymnody  have 
served  as  wings  to  bear  the  Gospel  far  and  wide 
over  the  earth.  Every  upward  movement  of  Chris- 
tianity has  been  marked  by  a  fresh  outburst  of  lyric 
fervor  which  has  added  to  it  both  expulsive  and  im- 
pulsive   force.     This  spiritualized    art   element   in 


156  GOD   AND    MUSIC 

evangelism  realizes  Napoleon's  motto,  Je  remp/ace, 
in  that  it  drives  out  seductive  evil  by  the  higher  joy 
and  purer  ministry  of  sacred  song.  Reformation 
and  Revival  have  always  owed  a  great  measure  of 
their  power  to  its  inspiring  and  truth -conveying  aid. 
It  has  feathered  the  gospel  arrow  for  quick  flight  to 
the  hearts  of  sinning,  sorrowing  men.  A  clear  gift 
of  the  Heavenly  father  to  his  earthly  children,  it 
has  helped  them  mightily  heavenward.  Luther 
claimed  none  too  much  for  good  music.  "  It  drives 
away  the  devil  and  makes  men  joyful.  Through 
music  one  forgets  all  anger,  impurity,  pride,  and 
other  vices."  L"  She  teaches  us  to  be  amicable,  more 
modest,  and  more  intelligent."  "  Music  is  a  divine 
revelation.  It  is  the  language  of  angels  in  heaven, 
and  on  earth  that  of  the  old  prophets."  ) 

There  was  more  than  a  symbolic  suggestion  of 
the  universal  religious  potency  of  consecrated  mu- 
sic, in  the  record  of  the  dedication  of  the  first  tem- 
ple at  Jerusalem.  The  glorious  Shekinah  of  Jeho- 
vah did  not  appear  after  priestly  ritual  or  royal  ser- 
mon, but  "  it  came  even  to  pass,  when  the  trumpet- 
ers and  singers  were  as  one,  to  make  one  sound  to 
be  heard  in  praising  and  thanking  the  Lord;  and 


THE   POWER   OF  MUSIC  157 

when  they  had  lifted  up  their  voice  with  the  trump- 
ets and  cymbals  and  instruments  of  music,  and 
praised  the  Lord,  saying,  For  he  is  good ;  for  his 
mercy  endureth  forever :  that  then  the  house  was 
filled  with  a  cloud,  even  the  house  of  tlie  Lord,  so 
that  the  priests  could  not  stand  to  minister  by  rea- 
son of  the  cloud :  for  the  glory  of  the  Lord  filled 
the  house  of  God." 

After  the  Apostolic  age  closed,  the  first  we  hear 
of  nascent  Christianity  is  the  responsive  morning 
hymn  of  the  persecuted  disciples  under  Pliny's 
governorship.  The  long  night  of  the  catacombs 
echoed  the  same  strains.  Ambrose  and  Greg- 
ory, like  new  Amphions,  built  up  the  imperial 
Roman  Church  to  the  sound  of  their  chants  in  the 
Greek  modes  exalted  to  Christian  use.  It  was  the 
hymns  of  Ambrose,  not  his  eloquence,  which  con- 
quered Augustine.  Bernard,  Savonarola,  Palestrina, 
Luther,  Marpt,  Wesley,  and  an  army  of  hymning 
evangelists  have  since  wrought  greater  things  for 
Christendom  than  the  exploits  of  those  priestly 
trumpeters  at  Jericho,  or  of  de  Lisle  with  his  Marseil- 
laise, The  Reformation  spread  and  prevailed  very 
much  as  its  hymnody  was  known  by  the  people,  so 


158  GOD  AND   MUSIC 

that  Cardinal  Cajetan  said  of  Luther,  "  By  his  songs 
he  has  conquered  us,"  The  "  infectious  frenzy  of 
sacred  song  "  was  a  whirlwind  force  with  which  em- 
perors, battalions,  and  the  Inquisition  itself  grappled 
in  vain.  It  is  related  that  "  when  bloodthirsty 
crowds  could  not  be  quelled  by  John  Wesley's  coal- 
black  eye,  nor  by  Whitefield's  imperial  voice,  they 
were  known  to  turn  and  slink  away  when  the  truth 
was  sung  at  them  in  Charles  Wesley's  hymns. 
Their  ringleaders  more  than  once  broke  down  un- 
der them  in  tears  and  groans  of  remorse.  They 
took  the  preacher  by  the  hand,  and  went  his  way 
with  him,  arm  in  arm,  swearing  by  all  that  is  holy 
that  not  a  hair  of  his  head  should  be  touched." 
The  part  which  gospel  lyrics  have  had  in  subduing 
the  half-wild  animal  natures  of  American  pioneer 
settlers,  slum  dwellers,  and  Belleville  ouvriers  is 
well  known.  Missionary  work  in  all  quarters  of  the 
globe  would  lose  one  of  its  most  pervasive  and  per- 
suasive forces  if  Christian  propaganda  were  mu- 
sically dumb.  An  incident  which  occurred  in  New 
Guinea  not  long  since  will  serve  as  an  illustration  of 
the  possible  power  of  this  agency.  A  party  of  na- 
tive evangelists  went  to  the  territory  of  a  cannibal 


THE   POWER   OF   MUSIC  159 

tribe  to  Christianize  their  dreaded  neighbors.  The 
heathen  savages  came  out  to  meet  them,  and,  after 
hearing  the  purpose  of  their  mission,  ordered  them 
to  return  to  their  homes.  The  zealous  but  unarmed 
Christians  could  not  consent  to  give  up  their  apos- 
toUc  task,  and  continued  to  tell  their  story  and  plead 
with  their  foes  to  hear  of  Jesus.  But  the  savage 
heart  was  unmoved.  The  wild  band  brandished 
guns  and  clubs  as  though  about  to  slaughter  the 
brave  messengers  of  the  gospel  of  love.  The  mis- 
sionary company  knew  not  what  to  do,  but  with  the 
spirit  of  martyrs  ready  to  die,  if  necessary,  as  wit- 
nesses for  Christ,  they  began  to  sing  their  Christian 
hymns.  The  sound  arrested  their  enemies,  softened 
them,  convinced  them  of  the  unselfish  motive  of 
these  friendly  natives,  and  finally  so  wrought  upon 
their  evil  hearts  that  they  invited  them  to  remain 
and  teach  their  own  tribe  the  new  religion.  The 
Holy  Spirit  aided  the  faithful  ministry  of  those  hum- 
ble workers  for  Christ,  and  their  enemies  became 
their  warm  friends  and  followers  of  Jesus. 

Music  unlocks  with  magic  key  the  silent  forces 
of  sacred   memories,  fond   associations,  and   high 


i6o  GOD   AND    MUSIC 

aspirations.     Old   men   in   the   backwoods  of  the 

.West  have  been  known  to  weep  like  children  at  the 

/     long  unheard  singing  of  the  Hundredth  Psalm.     It 

/       brought  back  their  early  home,  the  happy  days  of 

1        youth,  and  a  thousand  sacred  recollections,  and  also 

\      stirred  the  slumbering  religious  sense  deep  down  in 

\  every  soul.     But  this  subtle  influence  of  association 

can-no  more  wholly  explain  its  profound  effect  on 

the   turbid   deep   of  human  souls,  and  on  whole 

generations  of  men,  than  can  mere  vibrations  in 

air  and  ear.     John   Henry  Newman  suggests  the 

true  reason  in  these  words  :    "  Can  it  be  that  those 

mysterious  stirrings  of  heart,  and  keen  emotions, 

and  strange  yearnings  after  we  know  not  what,  and 

awful    impressions    from   we    know   not  whence, 

should  be  wrought  in  us  by  what  is  unsubstantial, 

and  comes  and  goes,  and  begins  and  ends  in  itself? 

It  is  not  so ;  it  cannot  be.     No ;  they  have  escaped 

from  some  higher  sphere ;  they  are  the  outpouring 

of    eternal    harmony   in   the   medium   of    created 

sound ;  they  are  echoes  from  our  home ;  they  are 

the  voice  of  angels,  or  the  magnificat  of  saints,  or 

the  living  laws  of  divine  government,  or  the  divine 

attributes ;  something  are  they  besides  themselves, 


THE   POWER  OF  MUSIC  i6i 

which  we  cannot  compass,  which  we  cannot  utter, 
— though  mortal  man,  and  he  perhaps  not  other- 
wise distinguished  above  his  fellows,  has  the  gift  of 
eliciting  them." 


MUSICAL    THERAPEUTICS 


<<  Music  that  brings  sweet  sleep  down  from  the  blissful  skies." 

— Tennyson. 

"And  for  music  the  health-giver,  what  an  untrodden  field  is 
there !  Have  we  never  known  an  invalid  forget  pain  and  weari- 
ness under  the  stimulus  of  music  ?  Have  you  never  seen  a  pale 
cheek  flush  up,  a  dull  eye  sparkle,  and  animation  succeed  to 
apathy  ?  What  does  all  this  mean  ?  It  means  that  music  attacks 
the  nervous  system  directly,  reaches  and  rouses  when  physic  and 
change  of  air  can  neither  reach  nor  rouse.  Music  will  some  day 
become  a  powerful  and  acknowledged  therapeutic  agent.  And  it  is 
one  especially  appropriate  to  this  excited  age.  Half  our  diseases 
come  from  disorder  of  the  nerves.  I  point  to  a  new  vocation— the 
vocation  of  the  Musical  Healer."— H.  R.  Haweis. 


CHAPTER  IX 

MUSICO-THERAPV 

An  accumulation  of  interesting  evidence  touch- 
ing the  therapeutic  value  of  music  warrants  an 
additional  chapter  at  this  point,  illustrating  the 
position  assumed  that  the  divine  benevolence  is  by 
this  means  exemplified.  It  would  seem  graciously 
fitting,  if  not  ethically  demanded,  that  the  Maker 
of  an  organism  so  "  fearfully  "  as  well  as  "  wonder- 
fully "  framed  as  the  human  body,  with  its  intricate 
and  delicate  system  of  nerves  and  brain  cells,  so 
adjusted  that  the  least  disturbance  of  their  balanced 
action  deranges  psychic  states,  should  also  provide 
a  neuro-psychic  agency  that  would  mediate  among 
the  disturbed  relations  with  restorative  potency. 
Such  a  benign  influence  is  actually  provided  by 
the  musical  potentialities  of  the  common  air, 
through  the  vibrations  communicated  by  it  to  the 
brain  and  nerve  tissues.  As  indicated  in  the  pre- 
vious chapter,  the  fact  that  music  has  great  value 
165 


i66  GODANDMUSIC 

in  both  exciting  and  calming  the  neuro-mental 
states,  was  recognized  as  far  back  in  human 
history  as  anything  Uke  history  goes.  Trust- 
worthy records  of  scientific  observations  in  this 
interesting  field,  however,  are  limited  to  the 
last  hundred  years,  and  principally  to  the  past 
twenty  years.  Recent  experiments  in  various 
countries,  undertaken  by  experts  both  medical  and 
musical,  furnish  material  for  at  least  tentative  induc- 
tion as  to  the  specific  effect  of  music  in  different 
diseases.  As  would  be  expected,  disordered  condi- 
tions of  brain  and  nerves,  accompanied  by  more  or 
less  mental  disturbance,  have  been  found  most 
directly  amenable  to  its  influence. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  last  century,  Pinel  and 
Esquirol,  two  distinguished  alienists  of  France  who 
made  great  improvements  in  the  treatment  of  the 
insane,  experimented  with  music  as  a  therapeutic 
agent  among  their  patients  in  the  Bicetre  and  the 
Salpetriere,  and  with  considerable  success.  Their 
immediate  imitators  overestimated  the  influence 
of  music,  and  used  it  so  promiscuously  as  to 
aggravate  the  condition  of  some  of  their  patients. 
In  1824  and  1825  Esquirol  adopted  more  system- 


MUSICO-THERAPY  167 

atic  measures.  He  gave  his  personal  supervision  to 
the  experiments,  and  carefully  selected  the  subjects 
on  whom  they  were  tried.  His  observations  led  him 
to  advise  that  with  the  insane  the  musicians  should  be 
few  and  out  of  sight.  The  music  must  be  carefully 
adapted  to  each  patient,  preference  being  given  to 
pieces  that  had  been  agreeable  to  the  individual 
prior  to  his  malady.  While  the  mental  affection 
was  acute  the  effect  would  be  uncertain ;  but  with 
the  convalescent  music  would  be  found  of  real 
value,  if  not  too  exciting.  It  was  considered  by 
Esquirol  to  be  a  complicated  form  of  treatment 
requiring  great  medical  care  and  skill,  with  some 
degree  of  musical  knowledge. 

An  eminent  Dutch  physician.  Dr.  J.  Petersen, 
writing  upon  the  subject,  says  that  the  same  music 
will  have  very  different  effects  on  different  psychic 
states,  and  affirms  that  in  all  acute  mental  condi- 
tions music  is  contra-indicated.  In  more  chronic 
forms  of  mental  disease  and  in  convalescence  it 
frequently  serves  a  beneficial  purpose,  inducing 
natural  sleep  and  pleasant  thoughts.  In  moral 
insanity,  this  writer  says,  it  seems  to  produce  no 
effect,  except  when  the  condition  is  the  result  of 


i68  GOD   AND    MUSIC 

education  and  environment.  It  is  to  be  deprecated 
for  children,  neurastheniacs,  and  in  acute  stages  of 
delusional  and  impulsive  insanity.  "  For  the  rest, 
we  may  regard  music  as  a  valuable  agent  in  par- 
ticular affections,  to  employ  the  patient,  to  lead  his 
thoughts  into  definite  channels,  to  improve  his  dis- 
position, and  to  control  his  will.  Orchestral  music 
comes  into  prominence  in  fostering  mutual  kindli- 
ness of  disposition,  provoking  a  friendly  cooperation 
and  an  interest  in  the  patient's  surroundings,  and  fur- 
thering the  progress  toward  a  better  social  bearing." 
The  great  sympathetic  influence  of  music  when 
it  coincides  with  temperament,  is  indicated  in  the 
following  appreciation  of  it  as  a  therapeutic  means 
employed  in  Irish  asylums,  written  by  Dr.  Drapes, 
an  Irish  alienist.  "  Nothing  cheers  these  patients, 
or  helps  them  forget  their  troubles  in  an  equal  de- 
gree to  music.  It  transports  them  to  another 
region  for  the  time  being,  removes  the  cloud  of 
depression,  assuages  grief,  tranquillizes  excitement, 
and  rarely,  if  ever,  produces  the  slightest  ill  effect. 
The  position  of  music  in  the  treatment  of  the 
insane  is,  and  ought  to  be,  a  high  one,  and  its  im- 
portance can  hardly  be  exaggerated." 


MUSICO-THERAPY  169 

A  society,  called  the  "  Guild  of  St.  Cecilia,"  was 
formed  in  London  in  1891  to  furnish  trained  musi- 
cians who  would  supply  hospitals  and  infirmaries 
with  music  for  tlie  treatment  of  patients  under  the 
direction  of  physicians.  Its  members  were  to  be 
ready  to  meet  calls  for  such  service  at  any  time. 
Music-boxes  and  musical  phonographs  were  also 
utilized.  The  plan  included  the  hiring  of  a  large 
central  hall,  in  which  there  would  be  continuous 
music  to  be  conveyed  by  telephone  to  hospital 
wards  and  sick  rooms.  It  was  under  the  leadership 
of  Canon  Frederick  K.  Harford,  of  Westminster 
Abbey.  Queen  Victoria  was  much  interested  in 
the  experiment,  and  Miss  Florence  Nightingale 
gave  the  project  her  warm  approbation.  The 
efiforts  of  the  Guild  were  reported  from  time  to  time 
during  1891  in  the  British  Medical  Journal.  Its 
editor  expressed  appreciation  of  the  benevolent  en- 
deavor, but  doubted  whether  the  Cecilians  would 
ever  "  charm  away  a  tumor,  or  purge  a  tuberculous 
lung  of  bacilli."  He  said,  however,  that  music, 
within  its  limits,  may  be  a  most  useful  handmaiden 
to  medicine,  and  that  in  this  age  of  '  nerves '  it 
might  play  an  important  part  in  the  prevention  of 


I70  GOD   AND    MUSIC 

many  diseases  fostered  by  depression  and  fatigue. 
As  a  sedative  and  hypnotic,  "  its  influence  in  calm- 
ing the  dehrium  of  fever  may  be  allowed,  and  of  its 
real  usefulness  in  certain  forms  of  nervous  disorder 
there  can  be  no  question." 

Among  the  cases  reported  by  the  Guild's  leader 
were  the  following :  "  First  Group  :  one  case  of 
severe  pain  after  crushed  leg ;  one  case  of  dropsy 
with  great  pain ;  two  cases  of  mental  depression. 
All  kept  quiet  for  half  an  hour  while  the  music  was 
playing,  and  the  dropsy  patient  said  that  this  was 
the  first  time  she  had  been  free  from  pain  since  she 
entered  the  hospital.  Second  Group :  one  case  of 
melancholia ;  had  not  talked  for  two  weeks.  At 
the  end  of  the  '  Lullaby '  she  wanted  it  played 
again,  and  talked  freely  for  several  hours.  Third 
Group :  a  case  of  delirium  tremens,  very  violent. 
Became  quiet  after  music  began,  later  talked  ration- 
ally, and  finally  discoursed  on  *  soothing  har- 
monies.' " 

Following  this  example,  a  St.  Cecilia  Guild  was 
formed  in  New  York  for  the  same  purpose.  Lack 
of  pecuniary  support  cut  short  the  laudable  under- 
taking in  both  instances.     Musical  treatment  was 


MUSICO-THERAPY  171 

furnished  for  a  time  by  the  New  York  Guild  for  the 
insane  patients  in  the  Manhattan  State  Hospital  on 
Ward's  Island.  Several  years  earlier  similar  ex- 
periments were  tried  among  the  insane  on  Black, 
well's  Island  by  Mr.  J.  W.  Pattison,  an  expert 
pianist,  and  Downing's  Ninth  Regiment  Band  of 
forty  pieces.  It  should  be  remembered  that  the 
physicians  in  charge  were  not  musical  experts, 
while  the  musicians  were  not  trained  scientific  ob- 
servers. The  music  tests  were,  therefore,  neces- 
sarily crude  and  imperfect.  A  few  representative 
cases  are  appended  to  illustrate  the  effect  of  the 
treatment  on  different  phases  and  stages  of  mental 
aberration,  together  with  the  opinions  of  the  physi- 
cians in  control  of  the  experiments.  From  the  re- 
port of  the  fifth  attempt  on  Blackwell's  Island  in 
1878  the  following  cases  are  selected. 

Case  I.  Female;  in  asylum  five  years.  Chronic 
mania ;  prognosis  bad ;  brought  in  violent.  Bee- 
thoven's "  Funeral  March  "  played ;  patient  quiet 
and  smiled,  but  after  two  minutes  became  violent 
again.  Pulse  1 20.  More  "  Funeral  March,"  pia- 
nissimo: patient  quiet  again.  Pulse  100.  Lively 
music    made    her    frantic,   and    the    pulse    could 


172  GOD  AND   MUSIC 

not  be  counted.  Total  pulse  change  from  150 
to  80. 

Case  2.  Female  thirty-five  years  old;  three 
years  in  asylum.  Chronic  mania;  prognosis  bad; 
brought  in  with  straight-jacket  on,  violent  and  us- 
ing profane  language.  A  Chopin  Nocturne  played : 
result,  stopped  swearing,  and  talked  sensibly.  An 
Adagio  of  Beethoven :  less  nervous.  Sent  back 
without  straight-jacket. 

Case  6.  Female,  thirty-two  years  old,  three 
years  in  asylum.  Chronic  mania.  All  kinds  of 
music  made  her  intensely  religious.  At  present 
attempt,  she  immediately  fell  on  her  knees  and  be- 
gan to  pray  loudly.     This  made  her  prognosis  good. 

Case  7.  Female,  age  thirty.  Incurable  melan- 
cholia; automatism.  First  dose  aroused  her;  sec- 
ond made  her  more  intelligent ;  third  dose,  she 
became  affectionate;  at  fourth,  she  was  exalted  and 
talkative.     Remark  :     "  Fine  case." 

Case  8.  A  dement  of  long  standing,  who  be- 
came quiet  after  the  "  Rhapsodic  Hongroise "  was 
played. 

Case  19.  Became  quiet  after  hearing  "  Cradle 
Song." 


MUSICO-THERAPY  173 

"Conclusions.  (1)  Instrumental  music  has  in 
some  cases  a  temporarily  good  effect,  which  varies 
according  to  the  temperament  of  the  patient 
Music  tranquillizes  the  violent,  soothes  the  nervous, 
and  makes  the  stolidly  melancholiac  chatty,  cheer- 
ful, and  disposed  to  weep,  the  latter  being  regarded 
as  a  sign  of  improvement.  (2)  In  all  probability, 
these  effects  of  music  may  be  made  permanent  by 
continuous  treatment  adapted  to  individual  cases, 
and  administered  in  properly  regulated  doses." 

In  1900,  another  experiment  was  made  at  the 
hospital  on  Ward's  Island,  when  eighteen  cases  were 
treated,  eleven  of  acute  mania,  and  seven  of  acute 
melancholia.  The  treatment  covered  a  period  of 
t^vo  months,  with  five  seances  each  week.  This 
company  of  extremely  demented  people  could  not 
be  called  a  favorable  class  of  subjects  for  musical 
therapy.  Two  of  the  patients  most  happily  affected 
by  the  treatment  are  thus  reported : 

XIII.  An  exaggerated  case  of  agitated  melan- 
cholia. Was  looked  upon  as  a  favorable  subject, 
well  educated,  and  of  refined  habits  and  manner. 
Was  deeply  affected  and  appreciative  from  the  be- 
ginning.    Lively  music,  such  as  familiar  marches 


174  GOD   AND    MUSIC 

and  the  like,  always  cheered  her  to  smiles.  The 
effect  was  generally  lasting.  Rapidly  improved  and 
has  since  gone  home. 

XIV.  A  case  of  acute  mania ;  considered  favor- 
able. Music  of  a  quieting  nature  always  had  a 
sedative  influence  on  her.  She  soon  became  at- 
tentive and  interested  in  all  kinds  of  music.  Has 
since  recovered. 

"Conclusions,  (i)  That  music  is  a  powerful 
agent  in  affecting  the  emotions  of  some  of  the  in- 
sane. (2)  To  get  this  effect,  it  is  necessary  that  the 
patient  have  a  natural  love  for  music,  as  otherwise 
her  sympathies  cannot  be  reached  in  this  way.  ( 3) 
The  quality  and  character  of  music  have  to  be 
regulated  to  suit  the  natural  preferences  of  the 
patient.  (4)  Melancholia  seems  to  be  best  suited  to 
this  kind  of  therapy,  since  the  attention  of  the 
patient  can  best  be  arrested  by  sound  vibrations. 
(5)  In  cases  of  mania,  simple,  slow,  dreamy  music 
is  best  adapted." 

"  Observations,  (i)  Pulse,  respiration,  and  bodily 
temperature  usually  increased  in  nearly  all  cases. 
(2)  Bodily  nutrition  greatly  improved  in  large  ma- 
jority of  cases,  three-fourths  showing  a  marked  in- 


MUSICO. THERAPY  175 

crease  in  weight.  (3)  After  musical  treatment, 
patients  were  less  disturbed  through  the  night, 
showing  that  the  calmative  effect  was  at  least  pro- 
longed for  some  time." 

"Calculations,  (i)  Recovered,  38.88  per  cent. 
(2)  Improved,  33.33  per  cent.  (3)  Unimproved, 
27.21  per  cent,  (a)  Benefited,  72.21  per  cent. 
{d)  Not  benefited,  27.76  per  cent" 

The  recent  experiments  of  Doctors  Bond  and 
Monette  under  the  oversight  of  Dr.  E.  C.  Dent,  the 
Superintendent  of  tlie  Woman's  Hospital  on  Ward's 
Island,  seem  to  show  the  value  of  the  color  treat- 
ment for  the  insane,  the  fundamental  principle  of 
vibrational  influence  being  the  same  with  that  rul- 
ing in  musical  therapeutics.  Patients  are  placed  in 
rooms  painted  in  one  or  another  of  the  primary 
colors,  according  to  the  type  and  stage  of  their 
malady,  and  they  generally  manifest  the  favorable 
effect  of  the  color  environment.  The  black  room 
is  used  for  cases  of  acute  mania.  The  patient 
placed  in  it,  and  thus  removed  from  all  aural  and 
visual  disturbance,  usually  soon  becomes  quieter. 
Red,  with  its  high  vibration  frequency,  is  employed 


176  GOD   AND   MUSIC 

for  subjects  of  melancholia.  From  the  red  room 
they  are  removed  to  one  in  deep  pink,  then  to  one 
of  a  flesh  tint,  and,  finally,  to  a  white  room.  A 
less  number  of  hours  need  be  spent  in  the  color 
rooms  as  improvement  results.  The  Report  for 
1902  expresses  doubt  concerning  the  efficacy  of 
this  treatment  in  chronic  melancholy,  but  attributes 
a  good  influence  to  the  color  environment  com- 
bined with  quiet  and  isolation,  in  soothing  the  per- 
turbations of  mania,  and  diminishing  its  intensity. 
Phototherapy  is  a  new  development  of  the  same 
general  principle.  Whether  the  cure  of  lupus, 
tuberculosis,  and  other  diseases  by  the  concentration 
of  light  rays  is  the  effect  of  a  chemical  or  of  a 
mechanical  process,  the  healing  cause  is  at  bottom 
a  matter  of  intense  vibrational  frequencies. 

The  principle  of  establishing  cerebral  equilibrium 
by  the  effect  of  vibrations  communicated  to  the 
brain  from  the  ether  and  the  atmospheric  air, 
through  the  optic  nerve,  or  the  tympanum  and  its 
interior  channels  of  sound,  would  appear  to  be 
valid  as  to  both  senses.  The  actual  results  of  the 
musical  treatment  of  patients  in  the  institutions 
above  named  indicates  a  similar   therapeutic  po- 


MUSICO. THERAPY  177 

tcncy  more  marked  than  those  obtained  under  the 
color  test. 


In  perhaps  every  large  institution  for  the  insane 
in  the  United  States  music  has  been  found  a  val- 
uable auxiliary  to  other  forms  of  treatment,  and 
positive  cures  have  sometimes  been  apparently 
wrought  by  its  means.  The  cost  of  this  "  most  ex- 
pensive kind  of  noise,"  and  the  practical  difficulty 
of  a  continuous  and  thorough  application  of  such  a 
method  of  treatment  in  the  present  incomplete  un- 
derstanding of  musical  therapeuty,  limit  its  utility 
in  actual  practice.  Several  superintendents  of  hos- 
pitals and  asylums  for  the  mentally  diseased  have 
kindly  given  their  opinion  as  to  its  value.  The 
following  are  fairly  representative. 

Dr.  Samuel  B.  Lyon,  Medical  Superintendent  of 
the  Bloomingdale  Asylum  at  White  Plains,  N.  Y., 
writes :  "  So  many  different  means  are  used  in  hos- 
pitals for  the  insane  to  interest  and  divert  patients, 
and  to  substitute  healthy  for  morbid  ideas,  that  it  is 
hard  to  assign  the  relative  value  to  each  one.  That 
we  value  the  effect  of  music  on  our  patients  is  evi- 
dent from  the  fact  that  we  maintain  an  orchestra  of 


178  GOD   AND   MUSIC 

eight  or  ten  pieces,  composed  of  our  medical  at- 
tendants, and  also  that  we  have  distributed  a  num- 
ber of  pianos  about  the  house.  We  have  regular 
musical  entertainments  at  frequent  intervals,  and  we 
encourage  patients  who  have  musical  talent,  or  who 
have  cultivated  the  art  in  the  past,  to  take  it  up 
while  they  are  with  us.  We  can  all  appreciate 
from  our  own  experience  the  cheering  and  sooth- 
ing effects  of  certain  kinds  of  music,  and  no  doubt 
the  same  influences  are  exerted  upon  persons  whose 
minds  are  abnormally  excited  or  depressed." 

Dr.  G.  A.  Blumer,  Superintendent  of  the  Butler 
Hospital,  Providence,  R.  I.,  says,  in  reference  to  a 
brilliant  paper  prepared  by  him  when  connected 
with  the  Utica  Asylum,  and  since  published  in  the 
American  Journal  of  Insanity  for  January,  1891, 
"  I  still  have  faith  in  music  as  mind  medicine,  but 
the  enthusiasm  of  my  paper  is,  I  fear,  not  quite 
borne  out  by  the  facts  of  general  experience.  All 
we  can  say  concerning  it  is  that  it  is  one  of  many 
important  agencies  in  the  moral  treatment  of  nerv- 
ous and  mental  invalids," 

Dr.  Charles  W.  Pilgrim,  Superintendent  of  the 
Hudson  River  State  Hospital  at  Poughkeepsie,  N. 


MUSICO-THERAPY  179 

Y.,  also  testifies :  "  I  have  always  believed  in  the 
good  effects  of  music  upon  nervous  patients."  As 
chairman  of  a  committee  on  the  maintenance  of 
musical  organizations  in  State  hospitals,  he  says  in 
its  Report :  "  There  are  so  many  obvious  reasons 
for  the  maintenance  of  bands  in  the  hospitals,  where 
they  can  do  so  much  for  the  sick  and  feeble,  that  it 
is  unnecessary  to  recount  them.  In  our  opinion, 
there  is  nothing  that  can  give  so  much  pleasure  to 
the  patients,  or  add  so  much  to  the  reputation  of  a 
hospital,  as  the  maintenance  of  a  good  musical  or- 
ganization." 

When  systematic  and  long  continued  experiments 
with  this  therapeutic  agency  have  been  made  under 
skillful  scientific  supervision,  there  will  doubtless  be 
more  considerable  and  more  definite  results  re- 
ported. Enough  has  already  been  learned  of  its 
efficacy  in  the  treatment  of  the  nervously  and  men- 
tally diseased  to  warrant  farther  investigation  and 
wise  experimentation. 

The  idiotic  are  peculiarly  sensitive  to  musical 
sounds,  and  are  intensely  fond  of  music  adapted  to 
their  condition,  therefore  they  are  especially  bene- 
fited by  it.     In  institutions  for  the  imbecile  on  both 


i8o  GOD  AND   MUSIC 

sides  of  the  ocean  results  of  positive  value  have  al- 
ways attended  the  use  of  instrumental  music.  The 
stolid  are  mentally  awakened,  the  morose  are  molli- 
fied and  humanized,  and  in  some  instances  the 
abortive  soul  comes  to  its  real  birth  and  a  life 
among  men.  If  the  human  soul  have  a  value  be- 
yond all  material  estimate,  an  agency  which,  like 
music,  can  almost  create  a  spiritual  personality, 
must  be  held  to  have  a  divine  origin  and  purpose. 

A  contribution  to  the  "  therapeutics  of  the  emo- 
tions" worthy  of  attention  from  students  of  the 
subject  has  been  made  by  a  specialist  in  nervous 
diseases,  Dr.  J.  Leonard  Corning,  of  New  York 
City.  An  interesting  account  of  his  treatment  of 
various  classes  of  nervous  invalids  is  found  in  the 
Medical  Record  of  January  2i,  1899.  The  prin- 
ciple on  which  it  was  grounded  is  that  of  the  re- 
vivability  or  rejuvenescence  of  the  emotions  along 
strictly  physiological  lines. 

"  The  rhythmic  concatenation  of  sound  which  we 
know  as  music,"  Dr.  Corning  observes,  "  is  capable 
beyond  all  else  of  achieving  the  revival  of  the 
affective  memories.     But  its  relation  to  the  feelings 


MUSICO-THERAPy  181 

docs  not  stop  here,  for,  as  Ribot  justly  remarks, 
•  while  certain  arts  at  once  awaken  ideas  which  give 
a  determination  to  the  feelings,  this  of  music  acts 
inversely.  It  creates  dispositions  depending  on  the 
organic  state  and  on  nervous  activity,  which  we 
translate  by  vague  terms — joy,  sadness,  tenderness, 
serenity,  tranquilUty,  uneasiness.  On  this  canvas 
the  intellect  embroiders  its  designs  at  pleasure, 
varying  according  to  individual  proclivities.'  "  To 
avoid  the  arbitrary  influence,  especially  of  a  de- 
pressing character,  exerted  by  music  upon  nerv- 
ously disturbed  minds  in  a  wakeful  and  self-con- 
scious state,  the  plan  was  adopted  of  utiUzing  mu- 
sical vibrations  just  before  and  during  sleep,  supple- 
mented by  the  employment  of  chromatiscope 
figures  as  sleep  inducing.  The  theory  was  that  the 
soporific  effects  of  music  are  produced  by  vibrations 
imparted  to  the  brain  itself  through  the  intermedia- 
tion of  the  acoustic  apparatus.  "  When  later,"  Dr. 
Corning  says,  "  I  glanced  through  the  meagre  liter- 
ature touching  this  important  question,  I  found 
that  the  essentially  physiological  view  was  held  by 
a  considerable  number  of  writers,  notably  by 
Buccola,  Boudet  de  Paris,  Vigouroux,  and  Mortimer 


i82  GOD   AND   MUSIC 

Granville,  whose  researches,  one  and  all,  go  to  show 
that  music  acts  ultimately  as  a  species  of  vibrative 
medicine.  If  this,  the  scientific  view,  be  accepted, 
it  follows  that  in  so  far  as  the  ultimate  material 
effect  of  music  upon  the  central  nervous  system  is 
concerned,  the  participation  of  consciousness  is  not 
essential." 
"Acting  upon  this  theory.  Dr.  Corning  devised  an 
apparatus  for  communicating  definite  musical  vi- 
brations to  the  brain  at  the  will  of  the  operator. 
An  acoustic  helmet  was  made  covering  the  entire 
head,  but  leaving  the  face  exposed.  This  shut  out 
other  sounds  from  the  ears  except  those  intended 
to  reach  the  tympanum.  Over  openings  against 
the  ears  in  this  helmet-like  hood  were  placed  me- 
tallic cups  connecting  by  rubber  tubes  with  an 
Edison  phonograph  placed  on  a  shelf  or  in  an  ad- 
joining room.  After  the  patient's  power  of  atten- 
tion had  been  diverted  and  exhausted  by  looking  at 
a  bright  object  on  a  screen  rapidly  revolved  and 
illuminated  by  a  hidden  light,  in  the  drowsy  state 
thus  produced  "  the  musical  waves  of  sound  surg- 
ing into  the  labyrinth  and  onward  to  the  senso- 
rium  produced  effects  indescribable.     .     .     .    From 


MUSICO-THERAPY  183 

the  far-reaching  nature  of  the  psychical  efTects  of 
music  it  is  evident  that  the  cerebral  areas  both  di- 
rectly and  indirectly  influenced  by  such  vibrations 
must  be  extensive.  When  allowed  to  produce  its 
full  effect,  this  vibrative  treatment  is  capable  of 
mitigating  a  number  of  troublesome  symptoms  by 
which  melancholiacs,  neurastheniacs,  and  other 
neurotics  arc  burdened.  .  .  .  After  prolonged 
and  numerous  trials,  I  have  become  convinced  that 
here,  in  this  untrodden  field,  we  have  spread  before 
us  a  host  of  new  opportunities,  not  of  theoretical 
acquisition  merely,  but  of  substantial  achievement 
in  the  realm  of  the  tangible  and  useful."  A  num- 
ber of  instances  of  decisive  improvement  under  this 
form  of  treatment  are  given  in  detail,  with  the  in- 
junction that  it  be  considered  only  an  important  ad- 
junct to  purely  medical  resources  already  known. 

The  Acadanie  des  Sciences,  of  Paris,  has  recently 
deemed  the  treatment  of  disease  by  music  worthy 
of  experimental  investigation.  Electric  currents  in- 
terrupted according  to  musical  rhythm  were 
utilized.  A  rhythmical  contraction  of  the  muscles 
was  thus  produced,  responsive  to  the  rhythm  era- 


i84  GOD   AND    MUSIC 

ployed,  whether  of  waltz,  jig,  or  solemn  music. 
This  agency,  combined  with  mental  suggestions, 
was  found  to  have  specific  effects  in  nervous  diseases. 
As  with  other  experiments  of  the  kind  made  else- 
where, respiration  and  circulation  were  increased 
by  lively  tunes  and  discords,  but  were  diminished 
by  rallentando  and  diminuendo  passages. 

The  London  Lancet,  perhaps  the  foremost 
medical  journal  in  the  English  language,  has  fol- 
lowed experiments  of  this  kind  with  careful  atten- 
tion for  twenty  years.  In  1886  (xi,  p.  755)  it  says, 
"  Music  influences  both  brain  and  heart  through 
the  spinal  cord,  probably  on  account  of  music  being 
vibratory  or  wave  motion,  which  stimulates 
the  nerve  centres.  .  .  .  The  idea  of  '  mind ' 
must  be  eliminated,  and  only  physiological  action 
on  tissues  considered,  or  else  a  clear  scientific  idea 
cannot  be  obtained."  In  1888  its  editor  says, 
"  Music  acts  as  a  refreshing  mental  stimulant  and 
restorative.  Therefore,  it  braces  depressed  nervous 
tone,  and  indirectly  through  the  nervous  system 
reaches  the  tissues.  It  is  of  most  use  in  depressed 
mental  conditions."     A  recent  volume  of  this  jour- 


MUSICO-THERAPY  185 

nal  contains  the  matured  opinion  that  "  the  value  of 
music  as  a  therapeutic  agent  cannot  yet  be  precisely 
stated,  but  it  is  no  quack's  nostrum.  It  is  one  of 
those  intangible  but  effective  aids  of  medicine  which 
exert  their  healthful  properties  through  the  nervous 
system." 

The  same  journal  describes  the  "  ergograph  "  of 
Professor  Tarchanoff",  an  apparatus  for  measuring 
the  effect  of  musical  vibrations  on  the  body,  as 
giving  results  of  decided  scientific  value.  By  means 
of  this  sensitive  indicator  it  is  proved  that  tired 
muscles  regain  their  strength  under  the  influence 
of  music,  although  sad  music  has  the  opposite 
effect,  Tarchanoff''s  theory  is  that  "  the  voluntary 
muscles  being  furnished  with  excito-motor  and  de- 
pressant fibres,  act  in  relation  to  music  similarly  to 
the  heart ;  that  is  to  say,  joyful  music  resounds  along 
the  excito-motor  fibres,  and  sad  music  along  the  de- 
pressant or  inhibitory  fibres."  The  St.  Petersburg 
scientist  concludes,  after  rigid  experimentation, 
that  "  music  may  fairly  be  regarded  as  a 
serious  therapeutic  agent,  and  that  it  exercises 
a  genuine  and  considerable  influence  over  the 
functions  of  the  body.     It  is  a  good  antidote  to 


i86  GOD   AND   MUSIC 

the  pernicious  habit  of  introspection  and  self- 
analysis." 

The  ancients  had  much  greater  faith  than  the 
moderns  in  the  efHcacy  of  music  as  a  curative  agent 
in  disease  of  every  kind,  while  the  modern  scientific 
mind  demands  a  degree  of  evidence  which  history 
cannot  furnish  for  asserted  cures  by  this  means  in 
the  earlier  days  of  man's  life  on  earth.  The  psy- 
chical power  of  melody  and  harmony  over  the  sick 
has  always  been  noted,  even  in  some  organic 
diseases.  Music  exercises  a  double  influence  upon 
the  body,  directly  by  means  of  vibratory  motion, 
and  indirectly  through  its  powerful  effect  upon  the 
mind.  To  which  of  these  its  reputed  success  in 
traumatic  healing  is  to  be  ascribed,  scientific  judg- 
ment must  decide.  Theophrzistus  affirmed  that 
wounds  and  snake  bites  were  cured  by  music  in  his 
time ;  but  his  assertions  cannot  be  verified  at  so 
distant  a  day.  The  following  account,  however,  is 
taken  from  a  reputable  journal  of  recent  date.  If  as 
true  as  interesting,  music  might  possibly  be  thought 
a  real  vulnerary. 

"  A  man  was  conveyed  to  a  hospital  in  Paris  suffer- 
ing from  an  accident  which  resulted  in  a  serious 


MUSICO-THERAPY  187 

wound.  This  wound  refused  to  heal,  and  all  the 
various  treatments  applied  to  it  failed  to  effect  the 
desired  end.  The  man  was  attacked  from  time  to 
time  by  violent  paroxysms,  and  death  appeared 
certain.  At  length  the  surgeon  enlisted  the  serv- 
ices of  a  good  viohn  player  and  treated  the  sufferer 
to  a  musical  remedy.  The  patient's  paroxysms 
ceased,  and  from  that  time  the  wound  began  to 
heal.  The  violin  playing  was  continued  at  intervals 
till  recovery  was  assured. 

"  In  another  case  the  wound  continued  to  sup- 
purate despite  all  that  could  be  done.  The  violin 
was  called  into  requisition  in  this  instance  also,  and 
the  instrument  was  played  close  to  the  injured  part, 
which  was  bared  for  the  purpose.  The  surgeon 
soon  observed  a  change.  The  wound  assumed  a 
healthier  appearance,  and  the  process  of  healing 
began  and  progressed  rapidly." 

Vibratory  treatment,  however,  has  been  thor- 
oughly tried  in  the  case  of  open  wounds,  by  the  use 
of  large  tuning-forks  and  musical  instruments,  but 
without  effect.  It  may,  therefore,  be  concluded 
that  the  reported  cures  in  the  Paris  hospital,  if  as 
stated,  were  caused  by  the  influence  of  the  mind, 


i88  GOD   AND   MUSIC 

excited  and  cheered  by  the  music,  over  the  morbid 
condition  of  the  body,  or,  perhaps,  by  some  favor- 
able change  in  conditions.  Even  if  so,  music  might 
have  part  of  the  credit. 

Entirely  within  the  limits  of  observation  and  ex- 
perience is  the  great  utility  of  right  vocal  culture  in 
disordered  conditions  of  the  throat  and  lungs,  and 
in  improving  the  general  health.  Whether  its 
efficacy  is  of  a  chemical  or  a  mechanical  character, 
its  value  is  indisputable.  The  practice,  also,  of  deep 
breathing  of  pure  air,  if  possible,  demanded  and 
fostered  by  vocal  music,  is  invaluable  as  a  means  of 
health  maintenance  and  improvement.  It  is  deemed 
by  some  a  panacea,  and  it  has  no  uncertain  spiritual 
analogies.  Singing  is  a  most  healthful  exercise  for 
body  and  mind. 

The  musical  city  of  Boston  ought  to  furnish 
well-prepared  soil  for  the  growth  of  the  healing 
plant  of  song.  In  fact,  the  good  seed  has  sprung 
up  there  and  borne  fruit  of  promise.  An  Easter 
and  Christmas  musical  mission  in  the  hospitals  is 
productive  of  much  benefit  as  well  as  great 
pleasure    to   their   inmates.     It  has   been   noticed 


MUSICO-THERAPY  189 

that  in  some  of  the  smaller  ones,  where  the  Sisters 
in  charge  sing  to  the  patients  every  evening,  a  less 
amount  of  opiates  is  needed  to  quiet  them  for  the 
night  A  cultivated  musician  of  altruistic  bent, 
encouraged  by  her  influence  in  cheering  and  even 
healing  the  sick,  has  issued  a  professional  card 
offering  to  use  her  gifts  for  invalids  in  hospitals  or 
at  their  homes.  The  "  shut-ins  "  especially  enjoy 
her  ministry  of  song.  Her  theory  is  that  music  is 
harmony,  and  harmony  is  order;  therefore,  music 
appeals  to  the  principle  of  order,  and  thus  counter- 
acts the  disorders  of  body  and  mind  which  are  the 
causes  of  sickness.  A  kindred  theory  affirms  that 
every  individual  has  a  constitutional  key-note, 
which  responds  to  music  harmonious  to  itself,  as  an 
edifice  trembles  to  sounds  in  its  particular  key. 
Hence,  health  of  body  and  of  soul  may  be  promoted 
by  properly  adapted  music. 

The  experience  of  those  who  have  been  much 
among  the  sick  and  wounded  in  military  hospitals 
during  actual  war,  confirms  belief  in  the  value 
of  music  as  both  a  moral  and  a  physical  power  of 
untold  influence  for  good  to  the  lonely  victims  of 
battle   or   of  disease.     Mrs.   Mary  A.  Livermore, 


190  GODANDMUSIC 

known  and  honored  for  her  benevolent  labors  in 
behalf  of  the  soldiers  in  the  Civil  War,  organized  a 
corps  of  singers  among  the  nurses,  vi'ho  were  sent 
for  in  every  direction  to  sing  to  the  sick  and  dying 
in  their  hardest  conflict  with  the  insidious  foes  to 
life  and  health,  nostalgia  worst  of  all. 

When  musical  culture  has  become  universal,  and 
the  advanced  races  of  men  have  returned  to  classic 
and  Christian  simplicity  of  living,  it  may  reasonably 
be  expected  that  the  therapeutics  of  music  will  have 
a  broader  basis  and  more  responsive  material  to 
operate  upon.  Sufficient  facts,  however,  are  already 
within  reach  to  show  that  here  is  an  agency  of  no 
small  power  and  value  in  the  treatment  of  human 
ills  of  many  kinds,  and  especially  in  ministering  to 
minds  diseased.  Music  is  a  fitting  medium  of 
grace  through  which  a  sympathizing  Creator  might 
conceivably,  and  even  probably,  communicate  a 
healing  force  to  bring  comfort  and  cure  to  the 
myriads  of  his  sentient  and  suffering  creatures  on 
earth. 

Note. — Increasing  attention  has  been  paid  of  late  by  both  med- 
ical and  musical  writers  to  the  subject  of  healing  by  music.  Among 
other  articles  is  one  of  special  interest  in  the  Arena,  for  March, 


MUSICO-THERAPY  191 

1 90 1,  by  Mr.  Henry  W.  Stnitton,  on  '*  The  Key-note  in  Musical 
Therapeutics."  The  general  principle  is  expressed  in  this  way  ; 
"  Music  is  the  health,  and  noise  the  disease,  of  sound.  Music  heals 
by  substituting  its  own  state  of  harmony  for  the  state  of  mental  and 
physical  inhannony  called  disease."  Every  organism  has  its  key- 
note, which  makes  the  individual  organism  respond  to  sounds  of 
coordinate  degree.  Hence,  find  the  key-note  of  the  human  indi- 
vidual, and  suit  the  musical  remedy  to  the  particular  case.  All 
food  is  nutritious,  but  only  certain  foods  are  adapted  to  certain  per- 
sons, or  to  disturbed  bodily  conditions.  Not  all  medicines  cure 
every  disease,  but  only  remedies  carefully  adapted  to  the  individual 
case.  So  music  should  be  wisely  selected  and  skillfully  applied  to 
render  it  a  useful  therapeutic  means. 

Another  article  by  the  same  writer  in  the  Arena  for  February, 

1902,  entitled  "  Music  and  Crime,"  brings  together  valuable  evi- 
dence from  many  sources  to  prove  that  the  ethical  influence  of 
music,  both  educational  and  remedial,  is  of  great  social  importance. 
Besides  facts  and  opinions  from  various  quarters  worthy  of  attention, 
the  following  theory  is  advanced  by  the  chaplain  of  the  House  of 
Correction,  South  Boston,  Massachusetts,  which  has  a  bearing  upon 
physico-mental  therapeutics  by  the  agency  of  music,  as  well  as 
upon  iu  undoubted  ethical  and  social  utility.  Chaplain  S.  S. 
Scaring  gives  this  as  the  conclusion  he  has  arrived  at  as  the  result 
of  much  experience  with  the  younger  criminal  class  : 

"  I  think  that  knowledge  of  correct  musical  intervals  and  the  in- 
toning of  these  intervals  assist  the  mind  to  regain  its  lost  sense  of 
harmony.  I  believe  that  all  our  thoughts  are  intervalled,  so  to 
speak,  according  to  the  laws  of  music;  but  when  the  mind  is 
abused  by  wrong  thinking,  our  thought-intervals  become  distorted ; 
that  is,  they  become  sharped  or  flatted.  The  singing  of  correct 
musical  intervals  sets  the  mind  into  right  moral  grooves,  and 
restores  its  equilibrium.  Music  should  be  applied  more  systematic- 
ally to  vicious  children." 


DESIGN    IN   DESIGN 


<<  Now  it  cannot  be  that  music  has  taken  this  place  in  the  deep- 
est and  holiest  matters  of  man's  life  through  mere  fortuitous 
arrangement.  It  must  be  that  there  exists  some  sort  of  relation 
between  pure  tones  and  the  spirit  of  man,  by  virtue  of  which  the 
latter  is  stimulated  and  forced  onward  toward  the  great  End  of  all 
love  and  aspiration.  What  may  be  the  nature  of  this  relation,  why 
it  is  that  certain  vibrations  sent  forward  by  the  tympanum  along 
the  bones  and  fluids  of  the  inner  ear  should  at  length  arrive  at  the 
spirit  of  man  endowed  with  such  a  prodigious  and  heavenly  energy, 
— at  what  point  of  the  course  they  acquire  this  capacity  of  angels, 
being  up  to  that  point  mere  particles  trembling  hither  and  thither 
— these  are,  in  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge,  mysteries  which 
no  man  can  unravel." — Sidney  Lanier. 


CHAPTER  X 

DESIGN    IN   DESIGN 

"  The  history  of  music  is  a  history  of  design." 
Undesigned  vibrations,  sounds  without  order,  are 
noise,  not  music.  Every  note  in  a  musical  compo- 
sition is  where  and  what  it  is  because  it  is  meant  to 
be  so.  Shall  men  be  free,  within  law,  to  work 
miracles  in  the  realm  of  sound,  and  God  be  shut  up 
to  an  acoustic  chaos,  forbidden  by  his  own  laws  to 
direct  finite  minds  and  worlds  toward  any  rational 
and  beneficent  end  ? 

There  are  machines  that  act  with  seeming  intelli- 
gence swifter  and  more  accurate  than  that  of  most 
men.  The  automatic  screw  cutter  is  infallible  up  to 
the  fifty-thousandth  of  an  inch.  The  forge  lathe  is 
called  by  mechanics  the  "  iron  calculator,"  because 
it  turns  out  the  most  gigantic  tasks  with  invariable 
accuracy.  Such  marvels  of  mechanical  art  are  in- 
stinct with  purpose.  Inventive  genius  and  con- 
structive skill  intended  them  to  do  their  wonders  of 
195  ^ 


196  GODANDMUSIC 

exactitude,  and  they  do  them  just  because  they 
were  meant  to  do  them.  No  design  in  the  uni- 
verse ?  This  intricate  art  of  music  with  its  rigid 
perfections  of  law,  its  composite  adaptations  and 
correlations,  and  its  magnificent  outcome,  is  it  with- 
out any  purposed  structure  or  designed  end  of  bless- 
ing ?  It  would  be  far  easier  to  see  in  American 
machine  tools  an  automatic  evolution  of  uncon- 
scious, unwilled  forces,  than  that  this  most  complex 
of  arts  with  its  spiritual  involutions  and  beneficent 
influences,  should  have  no  ultimate  genesis  other 
than  accidental  tremors  in  the  original,  homo- 
geneous ether. 

The  scheme  of  creation  by  evolution  throws  no 
obstacle  in  the  way  of  initial  or  continuous  design 
in  the  making  of  a  universe.  Darwin  said  with 
positiveness,  that  his  theory  required  more  teleology 
than  it  displaced.  This  assertion  is  verified  by  the 
musical  constitution  of  things  and  minds,  which 
absolutely  demands  in  its  authorship  distinct  pur- 
pose, both  scientific  and  benevolent.  Music  is  one 
of  the  most  conspicuous  proofs  that  the  Creator  of 
the  universe  is  a  Being  of  mathematical,  aesthetic, 
and   altruistic  attributes.      The   idea   that  such   a 


DESIGN   IN  DESIGN  197 

Mind  could  work  with  no  intelligent  or  benevolent 
intention  is  irrational.  Clerk  Maxwell's  saying: 
"  I  have  looked  into  most  philosophical  systems, 
and  I  have  found  none  that  will  work  without  a 
God,"  might  be  made  specifically  as  to  the  aesthetic 
laws  and  facts  of  the  universe.  Atheism  could  find 
some  excuse  in  a  dumb  or  ugly  world ;  but,  in  one 
filled  with  melody  and  harmony,  to  deny  God  any 
part  or  purpose  in  their  existence,  is  a  crime  against 
art,  logic,  and  the  law  of  gratitude. 

It  is  true  that  causality  does  not  prove  finality. 
Forces  might  be  conceived  to  act  in  straight  lines 
and  within  narrow  limits  so  accurately  as  to  give 
the  appearance  of  unconscious  design,  if  the  two 
words  do  not  kill  each  other.  But  it  is  more  in  ac- 
cord with  the  natural  working  of  minds  like  ours  to 
see  purposed  ends  in  results  of  such  a  character  as 
those  attained  by  music,  than  it  is  to  imagine  a 
pseudo-immanence  of  finality  directing  a  system  of 
sounds  so  complicated,  perfectly  adjusted  to  the  rest 
of  the  universe,  and  with  spiritual  implications  of 
incalculable  significance.  By  the  theistic  theory, 
the  strain  upon  either  reason  or  faith  is  immensely 
less.      But   leaving  the   general   argument   in   the 


198  GOD  AND   MUSIC 

hands  of  specialists  like  Janet,  Harris,  Diman, 
and  Flint,  it  will  be  enough  for  the  present  essay 
to  indicate  a  few  points  at  which  the  facts 
and  philosophy  of  music  confirm  the  theistic 
view. 

The  mathematical  character  of  the  laws  that 
govern  the  universe  in  all  its  parts,  is  the  most  im- 
pressive feature  of  current  scientific  conceptions  of 
the  processes  of  nature.  Modern  science  echoes 
early  Greek  philosophy.  Number  rules  all.  Gravi- 
tation, the  stellar  orbits,  chemical  combination,  in 
fact  all  the  transformations  and  manifestations  of 
force  admit  of  precise  numerical  expression.  "  Each 
color  in  the  rainbow  that  spans  the  arch  of  heaven 
and  makes  the  heart  leap  up,  is  due  to  a  certain 
number  of  vibrations  within  a  given  time,  and  so 
are  the  long-drawn  notes  of  the  organ  that  uplift 
the  soul  in  praise,  or  the  varied  accents  of  the  hu- 
man voice.  A  crystal  is  frozen  geometry,  and  the 
tiny  feathers  in  the  wings  and  tail  of  the  humming- 
bird are  all  numbered." 

But  number,  reasoned,  organized,  correlated,  pre- 
supposes mind  and  will.     The  quasi-thinking  ma- 


DESIGN   IN   DESIGN 


199 


chine  works  out  only  the  mathematical  thought  put 
into  it  by  inventive  and  constructive  mind.  When 
we  find  the  fundamental  laws  of  vibration,  which 
govern  "  the  deep  pulsations  of  the  world,"  working 
with  a  complex  accuracy  comprehensible  only  by 
the  use  of  the  higher  mathematics,  the  necessary 
inference  is  that  they  were  intended  so  to  work. 
A  single  musical  note  with  its  component  over- 
tones sounding  up  the  acoustic  scale,  like  an  audi- 
ble spectrum,  every  step  prescribed  by  strict 
mathematical  law,  leads  the  mind  upward  to  the 
Great  Mathematician.  Some  ears  cannot  perceive 
these  higher  notes  that  accompany  each  primal 
musical  sound,  as  Tyndall's  comrade  could  not  hear 
the  shrill  call  of  certain  insects  plainly  heard  by 
him,  though  this  did  not  cause  either  to  doubt  their 
existence.  That  minds  accustomed  to  look  only  at 
second  causes  and  their  scientific  relations,  seem 
unable  to  take  the  logical  step  from  facts  present- 
ing plain  evidence  of  mathematical  thought  to  a 
Thinker  planning  and  executing  his  works  in  in- 
variable mathematical  sequences,  cannot  be  per- 
mitted to  annul  the  rational  inference  to  this  effect. 
The  greatest  philosophers  of  old  and  most  plain 


200  GODANDMUSIC 

thinking  people  of  to-day  agree  in  arguing  from 
number  to  a  Numberer. 

The  compHcated  mathematics  of  music  do  not 
begin  to  explain  its  spiritual  secrets,  yet,  by  them- 
selves, and  still  more  when  taken  along  with  the 
geometry  of  the  heavens  and  the  mathematical 
ordering  of  everything  in  the  universe,  they  do 
foster,  if  not  compel,  belief  in  a  Supreme  Mind 
thinking  and  acting  with  infallible  accuracy  toward 
reasoned  results.  The  soul  of  music  is  not  an  aes- 
thetic Frankenstein  to  be  created  out  of  acoustic 
material  according  to  scientific  formulae;  yet  its 
highest  inspirations  and  most  aerial  flights  are  sub- 
ject to  mathematical  law.  The  musical  theoretician 
does  but  discover  and  follow  the  logical  steps  in  the 
divine  thinking.  If  the  history  of  concrete  music 
is,  in  Parry's  phrase,  the  history  of  human  design, 
its  mathematical  constitution,  on  which  the  whole 
art  and  science  rest,  much  more  certainly  proves  a 
divine  Designer. 

What,  now,  is  the  significance  of  the  fact  that  the 
aesthetic  element  in  musical  compositions  and  the 
incalculable  power  they  exert  over  the  human  soul 


DESIGN  IN   DESIGN  201 

have  never  been  scientifically  accounted  for? 
Helmholtz,  Hauptmann,  Hanslick,  and  later  writers 
of  musical  and  philosophical  authority  pronounce 
the  problem  apparently  insoluble.  The  easy  Spen- 
cerian  method  for  disposing  of  it  does  not  convince 
such  minds.  The  great  composers  have  often 
thought  themselves  inspired  from  above.  By  the 
weakest  supposition,  the  aesthetic  content  of  any 
music  worth  the  name  is  a  non-material  factor,  of 
ever-changing  form,  and  affecting  the  spiritual  fac- 
ulty in  man  with  a  direct,  deep-reaching  influence. 
It  is  not  a  coldly  reasoned  or  deftly  manufactured 
product.  Still  less  can  it  be  explained  in  terms  of 
physics,  as  solely  the  effect  of  skillfully  managed 
aerial  vibrations  acting  mechanically  on  ear,  brain, 
and  nerves.  It  is  too  immaterial,  mysterious,  and 
spiritually  powerful  to  be  a  merely  physical  phe- 
nomenon. Music  has  every  appearance  of  being,  or 
of  exercising,  a  spiritual  force,  intended  as  a  medium 
of  communication  between  spirit  and  spirit,  between 
God  and  men,  and  among  men. 

Reasoning  from  effect  to  cause  is  legitimate  in 
this  instance.  Whatever  the  origin  and  nature  of 
the  tone-creating  agencies,  the  sesthetic  force  devel- 


UN\Vt 


202  GODANDMUSIC 

oped  by  them  produces  on  mind  and  heart  such 
profound  and  lasting  effects  as  to  warrant  the  belief 
that  these  effects  were  purposed.  If  induction  ever 
proves  design,  the  history  of  music,  religious,  edu- 
cational, social,  and  moral,  in  promoting  the  well- 
being  of  men  in  all  ages,  ought  to  lead  to  this  con- 
clusion. The  abuses  of  the  art  cannot  nullify  the 
force  of  the  induction  any  more  than  in  the  case  of 
religion  itself.  Man  was  made  to  be  religious  in  a 
true  sense,  and  his  musical  endowment  was  likewise 
meant  to  help  him  develop  his  nature  in  its  higher 
and  finer  faculties.  Dr.  Chalmers  spoke  only  the 
truth  in  affirming  that  "  the  power  and  express- 
iveness of  music  may  well  be  regarded  as  a  most 
beauteous  adaptation  of  external  nature  to  the  moral 
constitution  of  man, — for  what  can  be  more  adapted 
to  his  moral  constitution  than  that  which  is  so  help- 
ful, as  music  eminently  is,  to  his  moral  culture  ?  " 

The  development  of  music,  as  an  art  and  as  a 
science,  strikingly  illustrates  the  progressive  princi- 
ple of  evolution  and  bears  the  same  mark  of  tend- 
ency toward  the  perfecting  of  finite  beings  through 
processes  that  develop  their  own  best  powers.  This 
tendency  appears  with  the  beginnings  of  variation 


DESIGN  IN   DESIGN  203 

and  differentiation.  Death  and  sex  were  among  its 
earliest  helpers.  Whatever  the  part  natural  selec- 
tion has  played  in  the  history  of  development,  its 
steady  purpose,  or  result  suggesting  purpose,  has 
been  for  betterment.  Darwin  often  used  language 
of  design,  as  when  he  said  in  "  Movements  of 
Plants  " :  "In  almost  every  case  wc  can  clearly  per- 
ceive the  final  purpose  or  advantage  of  the  several 
movements."  Tyndall,  in  the  Belfast  Address,  as- 
serted as  a  general  truth  that  "  the  continued  effort 
of  animated  nature  is  to  improve  its  conditions  and 
raise  itself  to  a  loftier  level."  Add  to  such  utter- 
ances, by  way  of  completion  and  contrast,  words 
like  those  of  the  idealist  author  of  "  Phases  of 
Thought  and  Criticism  "  :  "  There  is  another  and 
higher  nature.  It  is  the  nature  of  a  soul  in  which 
dwell  order  and  method ;  which  coordinates  all 
knowledge;  which  recognizes  the  ideal;  in  which 
the  good,  the  true,  and  the  beautiful  are  culti- 
vated each  according  to  its  nature  and  by  its 
own  method.  It  is  the  rhythm  of  a  thoroughly  dis- 
ciplined intellect  and  a  well  regulated  life.  That 
dream  comes  to  us  all.  If  we  do  not  realize  that 
harmonious  development  to  its  fullest  extent,  we 


204  GODANDMUSIC 

should  cultivate  both  the  spiritual  sense  and  the 
moral  sense  with  care  and  assiduity."  The  corollary 
to  be  drawn  for  use  in  the  present  discussion  is  that 
the  history  of  music  illustrates  the  upward  trend  of 
evolution,  and  that  its  ministry  is  an  invaluable  aid 
in  developing  the  spiritual  ideal  in  the  soul  of  man. 
It  points  toward  perfection,  and  greatly  helps  in  its 
attainment.  It  thus  reinforces  the  argument  for 
ethical  purpose  in  evolution,  adopting  the  method 
proved  most  efficient  in  the  whole  course  of  organic 
development. 

The  evidence  for  theistic  design  furnished  by  the 
universal  presence  and  beneficent  office  of  the  beau- 
tiful in  its  myriad  forms,  gives  great  force  to  the 
specific  discussion  of  this  subject.  Beauty,  whether 
visible  or  audible,  is  the  attempt  in  nature  or  by 
man  to  realize  the  ideally  perfect.  "  The  idea  of 
beauty  unfolded  in  its  full  significance  discloses  the 
idea  of  God."  In  its  sensible  manifestations  it  fitly 
represents  the  inevitable  effort  of  a  Perfect  Being 
to  body  forth  his  perfections,  and  aid  his  creatures 
to  attain  their  full  measure  of  them. 

In  the  Symposium,  Plato  describes  in  singularly 


DESIGN   IN   DESIGN  205 

eloquent  language  what  he  calls  the  absolute 
beauty,  but  in  terms  which  can  be  understood  only, 
as  he  probably  intended  them,  of  a  Supreme  Mind 
possessing  and  radiating  all  perfections.  The  true 
order,  he  reasons,  is  to  use  the  individual  beauties 
of  earth  as  steps  along  which  the  seeker  mounts 
upward  for  the  sake  of  that  other  beauty,  which  is 
beauty  only,  absolute,  separate,  simple,  everlasting ; 
which,  without  diminution  and  without  increase, 
is  imparted  to  the  ever  growing  and  perishing 
beauties  of  all  other  things.  In  communion  with 
this  pure,  divine  beauty  man  has  hold,  not  of  an 
image,  but  of  a  reality.  If,  in  love  of  it  and 
wedded  to  it,  he  brings  forth  and  educates  true 
virtue,  he  will  be  enabled  to  become  the  friend  of 
God,  and  be  immortal,  if  mortal  man  may. 
"  Would  that,"  asks  the  lofty  minded  philosopher, 
•'  be  an  ignoble  life  ?  "  But  the  notion  of  a  sub- 
stance, infinite  and  perfect,  worthy  to  be  called 
absolute  beauty,  which,  without  consciousness, 
volition,  or  motive,  communicates  from  its  own 
unwasting  mass  something  which  pervades  all 
lower  forms  of  the  beautiful,  and  makes  them  such, 
this,  surely,  is  a  figment  of  transcendental  imagina- 


2o6  GODANDMUSIC 

tion.  Only  conscious  mind  can  create  or  perceive 
beauty.  The  conditions,  ground,  and  media  of  the 
beautiful,  such  as  surfaces,  angles,  colors,  tones,  the 
air,  the  eye  and  ear,  must  be  purposely  arranged 
by  mind  filled  with  the  love  and  knowledge  of  ideal 
beauty. 

To  recognize  and  enjoy  this  in  any  of  its  forms, 
is  the  exclusive  perquisite  of  minds  able  to  per- 
ceive and  enjoy  it.  The  causal  link  between 
author  and  percipient  must  be  gracious  intent. 
All  human  works  having  the  beautiful  as  either 
the  supreme  or  only  a  subordinate  element,  are  the 
result  of  design.  They  exist  and  are  beautiful 
because  the  artist  or  artisan  meant  them  to  be  what 
they  are. 

The  graver  intends  his  polished  surfaces  and 
significant  lines  to  be  distinctly  beautiful,  yet 
nature  excels  his  finest  art.  We  cannot  avoid  the 
conviction  expressed  by  the  Duke  of  Argyle,  that 
the  endless  variety  of  beautiful  forms  and  etchings 
of  shells  had  the  same  motive  as  that  of  the  graver. 
The  same  is  true  of  every  art.  Even  the  cave- 
dweller  had  aesthetic  intent  when  he  scratched  the 
rude  figure  of  a  deer  upon  a  piece  of  bone.     Art 


DESIGN   IN   DESIGN  207 

is  the  assertion  of  man's  spirituality.  It  has  been 
described  as  the  infusion  of  his  personality  into 
dead  matter.  It  is  the  overbrimming  of  that 
which  is  divine  in  him.  This  being  true  of  man, 
how  much  more  of  his  Maker,  who  is  Creator  of 
all  that  makes  for  beauty  in  the  universe. 

If  we  cannot  reason  from  the  prius  of  human  art 
to  a  like  motive  in  the  divine  Artist,  wc  are  left  to 
intellectual  anarchy.  The  world  of  thought  is 
mere  chaos,  and  beauty  might  as  well  not  be,  if 
this  supremely  admirable  and  beneficent  cosmic 
fact  has  neither  intelligent  cause  nor  adequate 
end.  Happy  are  those  who  not  only  appre- 
ciate the  audible  beauties  of  music,  but  also  hear 
in  it  the  kindly  voice  of  their  most  gracious 
Creator. 

The  adjustments  of  nature  to  provide  for  music 
and  its  enjoyment  give  cumulative  evidence  of  the 
purposive  activity  of  a  scientific,  aesthetic,  and 
generous  Being  at  the  causal  fountain-head.  The 
theory  that  these  apparently  designed  adjustments 
are  but  the  outcome  of  a  continuous  equilibration 
of  internal  with  external  relations,  does  not  suffi- 
ciently account  for  the  very  complex  result,  with 


2o8  GODANDMUSIC 

its  logical  and  interdependent  connections.  Im- 
manent plan  clearly  indicates  anticipative  design. 
Intellect  is  in  it.  Goodness  is  manifest.  The 
system  as  a  whole,  with  its  prophetic  tendency 
toward  perfection,  is  such  as  friendly  wisdom  would 
have  planned.  Chance  variations  and  a  Kilkenny 
struggle  for  survival  could  never  issue  in  a  cosmos 
crammed  full  of  marks  of  scientific  purpose  and 
divine  benevolence.  Far  more  in  accordance  with 
reason  is  the  theory  of  Leibnitz,  that  a  "  pre- 
established  harmony"  of  interacting  agents  can 
alone  explain  the  consistent  and  beautiful  results 
observed  in  nature.  The  end  proposed  and  at- 
tained does  not  belong  to  the  nature  of  things,  for 
quite  a  different  universe  might  easily  have  come 
from  the  same  elements.  Final  cause,  in  Hegel's 
definition,  is  a  concurrence  of  independent  agencies 
acting  toward  the  production  of  a  definite  end. 
The  actual  universe  has  every  appearance  of  having 
been  planned  to  attain  by  the  agency  of  inde- 
pendent yet  converging  forces,  not  the  present 
wayside  status,  but  such  a  condition  as  that  fore- 
shadowed in  Christian  revelation.  Its  Maker  and 
Builder  is  not  alone  the  God  of  things  as  they  are, 


DESIGN   IN   DESIGN  209 

but  rather  the  God  of  things  as  they  will  be  in  the 
ever  developing  future. 

An  example  or  two  from  the  realm  occupied  by 
musical  sound  will  illustrate  and  confirm  the  posi- 
tion taken. 

It  is  certainly  significant  that  definite  musical 
tone  plays  but  a  small  part  in  nature,  while  by  far 
the  greater  portion  of  the  auditory  apparatus  seems 
set  apart  for  the  most  minute  discrimination  of  the 
pitch  and  quality  of  tones,  and  for  nothing  else. 
The  human  ear  and  throat  are  expressly  adapted 
for  song,  which  is  an  intellectual  and  spiritual  event. 
The  car  possesses  a  selective  power  that  almost 
merits  the  epithet  of  miraculous,  by  which  it  is  en- 
abled to  carry  audible  messages  to  the  brain,  there 
to  be  transformed  into  mental  and  spiritual  ex- 
periences. In  his  standard  work,  "  The  Philosophy 
of  Music,"  William  Pole  illustrates  this  truly  won- 
derful fact  in  every-day  audition  somewhat  as 
follows. 

By  the  "  law  of  Ohm  "  the  ear  refuses  to  recog- 
nize any  sound-wave  except  of  the  simplest  form. 
Imagine  the  task  it  has  to  accomphsh  when  over- 


2IO  GOD   AND    MUSIC 

whelmed  by  the  numberless  mingled  and  conflicting 
sounds  of,  say,  a  promenade  concert.  The  only 
means  by  which  the  hearing  organ  can  perceive 
such  a  rushing  tempest  of  sound-waves  continually 
breaking  upon  the  ear,  is  by  the  condensation  and 
rarefaction  of  particles  of  air  at  the  end  of  a  tube 
about  the  size  of  a  knitting-needle,  forming  therein 
a  single  air-wave  so  complex  as  to  contain  some 
element  representing  every  simultaneous  sound  in 
the  room.  Yet  when  this  wave  action  reaches  the 
nerve  tips,  through  the  delicate  tapping  of  the 
microscopic  piano  keys  of  the  possibly  twice 
twenty  thousand  Corti  rods,  the  nerve  filaments 
automatically  single  out  each  element,  by  itself,  and 
convey  to  the  conscious  mind  not  only  the  charac- 
teristic notes  of  every  instrument  and  class  of 
voice,  made  such  by  their  distinctive  overtones,  but 
also  the  quality  of  every  accidental  noise,  the  tramp 
of  feet,  the  shutting  of  doors,  the  rustle  of  gowns, 
the  plash  of  fountains,  conversation,  laughter,  and 
sounds  from  the  outside  world.  Each  of  these  is 
reported  to  the  mind  as  accurately  as  though  it  had 
been  heard  alone.  If  the  "  tetanus "  theory  of 
William  James  were  correct,  attributing  the  same 


DESIGN   IN   DESIGN  211 

effects  to  successive  instead  of  composite  impres- 
sions on  the  hearing  organs,  the  wonder  would  be 
no  less. 

In  John  Fiske's  '•  Through  Nature  to  God,"  the 
extreme  complexity  of  sensation  produced  by  a 
single  musical  tone  is  vividly  described.  On  a 
violin  sound  the  F  one  octave  above  the  treble  staff", 
and  several  thousand  psychical  states,  he  says,  are 
produced  which  together  make  up  the  sense  of 
pitch ;  also,  fifty-five  times  as  many  psychical  states 
which  together  give  the  sensation  of  tone  quality ; 
,  and,  still  farther,  an  immense  number  of  psychical 
f  states  which  together  convey  the  sensation  of  in- 
tensity. When  the  almost  innumerable  elements 
of  a  single  tone  impression  are  multipUed  by  the 
number  of  sensations  present  to  consciousness  in 
every  successive  instant  of  a  concert  or  an  opera,  the 
analysis  of  either  the  acoustic  or  the  psychic  fact 
passes  the  grasp  of  even  the  most  vigorous  imag- 
ination. 

Each  sound  in  any  such  acoustic  conglomerate 
has  a  definite  effect  upon  the  mind  of  every  hearer, 
:      which  differs  according  to  his  personality.     Each 
person,  also,  has   a   similar  selective  capacity  of 


212  GOD   AND    MUSIC 

mental  and  moral  choice,  amounting  to  practical 
free-will,  as  to  what  sounds  shall  influence  him  and 
how.  The  psychical  results  of  music,  in  little  or  in 
large,  may  determine  the  course  of  a  Hfe,  the  action 
of  a  community,  the  history  of  a  nation,  the  type 
of  a  civilization.  The  songs  of  a  people  inspire  and 
impel,  while  their  laws  may  only  compel  or  restrain. 
Considering  the  numberless  adjustments  neces- 
sary in  the  simple  act  of  hearing  a  single  composite 
tone,  then  the  inconceivably  complex  sounds  of 
such  a  concert  as  supposed,  and  then  the  coordina- 
tion of  these  with  the  infinitely  more  complicated 
relations  of  human  life,  does  not  the  solution  of  the 
various  problems  involved  that  is  offered  by  purely 
physical  theories,  seem  almost  childish  ? 

The  factor  of  tonality  in  the  government  of  scale 
relations  furnishes  a  specific  example  of  manifold 
adjustment  for  a  controlling  end,  which  strongly 
suggests  purpose.  This  feature,  as  recognized  in 
modern  music,  is  the  inherent  tendency  of  melody 
and  harmony  to  rest  finally  on  the  tonic  as  an 
acoustic  corner-stone,  or  key  of  arch,  or  centre  of 
gravity.     This  centripetal  influence  corresponds  to 


DESIGN   IN   DESIGN  213 

the  attraction  of  gravitation  that  binds  the  stellar 
universe  together,  and  makes  planetary  life  possible. 
Its  importance  in  a  matured  system  of  music  is  a 
comparatively  recent  discovery.  Aristotle  knew  of 
it,  as  he  had  prevision  of  nearly  all  the  universal 
truths  of  science.  But  it  was  lost  sight  of.  For  a 
thousand  years  ecclesiastical  music  ended,  as  it 
were,  in  the  air.  In  the  tenth  century  that  inven- 
tive  genius,  Guido  of  Arezzo,  supplied  the  lacking 
note  at  the  base  of  the  diatonic  scale.  But  not  till 
the  sixteenth  century  did  Palestrina,  the  genius  of 
spiritual  melody  who  "  set  Christianity  to  music," 
give  to  tonality  its  long  waiting  throne.  Oriental 
nations  with  their  half-developed  musical  systems 
have  still  to  learn  its  full  value.  The  music  of  the 
Occident  may  be  too  exclusively  submissive  to  its 
sway. 

Henry  Mills  Alden,  in  his  suggestive  book, "  God 
in  His  World,"  expresses  a  correct  estimate  of  this 
fundamental  fact  in  music  as  illustrated  in  nature : 
"  Gravitation — this  restraint  of  nature — what  knowl- 
edge have  we  of  it  ?  All  but  its  mathematics  es- 
capes our  analysis.  It  is  the  bond  of  unity  and 
harmony  in  the  universe.     It  is  to-day  what  it  was 


<t, 


214  GOD  AND   MUSIC 

when  the  morning  stars  sang  together.  It  is  indeed 
the  tonahty  of  that  song  continued.  And  it  is  in 
musical  tonality,  with  its  accord  and  inward  obliga- 
tion, that  we  have  the  nearest  symbol  of  natural  or 
spiritual  harmony." 

The  theistic  significance  of  this  force  in  music, 
which  binds  all  the  notes  of  any  complete  scale  to 
one  basal  centre,  lies  partly  in  its  cosmic  analogy  to 
gravitation,  and  partly  in  its  office  of  coordinating 
the  scale  relations.  It  supplies  the  unity  in  variety 
that  is  the  central  principle  of  art.  It  gives  relative 
character  to  every  note,  makes  modulation  possible, 
and  is  the  anchor  cable  that  holds  the  melody  and 
its  precious  freight  of  harmony  from  drifting  upon 
acoustic  shoals.  That  this  vital  fact  in  music  could 
merely  have  happened,  that  it  is  only  a  post  hoc  in 
the  course  of  unguided  evolution,  that  it  could  have 
its  office  and  power  without  creative  reason  or  in- 
tent, is  too  difficult  for  even  scientific  faith. 


THE    ALTRUISTIC    ART 


k 


"  Music,  sister  of  sunrise,  and  herald  of  life  to  be, 
Smiled  as  dawn  on  the  spirit  of  man,  and  the  thrall  was  free." 

— A.  C.  Swinburne. 

Mario  singing  by  the  wayside  to  fill  the  hat  of  a  beggar;  Jenny 
Lind  giving  the  best  of  her  wonderful  powers  at  every  call  of 
charity ;  de  Reszke  emptying  his  pockets  to  save  an  immigrant 
family  of  musicians  from  starvation,  are  examples  of  the  generos- 
ity of  those  whose  nature  music  makes  responsive  to  human  need. 

"  Music  leaves  logic  behind  in  the  race  toward  sympathy  and 
action ;  if  it  were  not  in  itself  noble  and  true,  it  would  work  great 
mischief  in  society.  It  abets  reason,  and  only  discloses  its  full 
power  and  works  its  mightiest  results  when  used  in  the  service  of 
truth.  Hence  there  is  no  music  in  nations  and  races  that  are  with- 
out nobility  of  thought,  and  there  is  no  truer  test  of  the  quality  of  a 
nation  than  its  music.  Bach  and  Haydn  and  Beethoven  would  be 
impossible  in  a  nation  that  did  not  produce  a  Kant,  a  Schelling, 
and  a  Schleiermacher,  and  the  former  are  as  truly  exponents  of  its 
character  as  the  latter." — ^T.  T.  MUNGER. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  ALTRUISTIC  ART 

There  are  two  ways  of  learning  the  character  of 
a  personality,  whether  human  or  divine.  One  pro- 
ceeds from  concept  to  deeds,  and  compares  the  two. 
The  other  sees  in  actions  certain  qualities,  studies 
their  results,  and  reasons  from  these  to  the  sort  of 
character  behind  them.  Music,  as  a  universal  fact 
and  with  a  history  fertile  in  definite  results,  invites 
to  the  search  after  God  along  both  these  paths. 

The  idea  of  perfect  being  is  a  necessary  product 
of  thought,  as  the  mind  inevitably  rises  from  the 
physical  to  the  metaphysical.  A  personal  Being 
who  corresponds  to  this  conception  will  be  not 
only  structurally  complete,  but  also  morally  perfect. 
And  moral  perfection  demands  and  is  compact  of 
that  self-forgetting,  self-giving  impulse  which  mod- 
erns call  altruism,  but  of  which  the  old,  best  name 
is  Love.  A  divine  Person,  if  such  there  be,  will,  by 
the  impulse  of  his  essential  nature,  plan  and  labor 
217 


zi8  GOD   AND    MUSIC 

to  make  all  his  sentient  creatures,  and  especially  his 
dependent  children,  happy  in  ways  that  benefit  as 
well  as  delight.  He  will  seek  to  purify,  refine, 
elevate,  and  incite  to  unselfish  action  those  whom 
he  has  formed  in  his  own  likeness,  since  true  and 
lasting  happiness  can  only  thus  be  attained.  Noth- 
ing in  the  original  arrangements  of  the  cosmos,  ex- 
cept the  family  relations,  so  fully  meets  this  demand 
of  reason  on  a  Creator  morally  perfect  and  able  to 
make  his  creatures  happy  and  good  like  himself,  as 
does  music. 

"  Low  in  the  Purple  under  us, 
High  in  the  Purple  above, 
That  music  weird  and  wonderous  — 
O  Universe,  whisper  me  whether 
The  key  of  it  was  not  Love." 

Or,  we  might  argue  from  the  intrinsic  qualities 
and  verified  effects  of  music  that  a  fact  and  an  art 
so  spiritual,  joy-giving,  and  morally  potent  must 
have  emanated  from  a  Creator  who  is  pure  benevo- 
lence, and  who  himself  loves  and  makes  music.  In 
the  search  for  its  real  nature,  its  origin,  and  its  end, 
we  should  look  to  the  mature  art  and  its  best  results 
to  furnish  our  data. 


THE  ALTRUISTIC   ART  219 

Each  of  these  lines  of  argument  starts  from  the 
primary  psychological  law  of  self-expression,  which 
is  instinctive.  Mind  must  articulate  itself,  if  not  in 
material  shapes,  yet  in  definite  thought-forms  de- 
manding audible  or  visible  embodiment  recog- 
nizable by  other  minds.  By  etymology,  nature  is 
that  in  the  universe  which  is  continually  coming  to 
the  birth,  externalizing  itself.  In  the  psychical 
realm  personality  will  out  A  benevolent  Creator 
must  express  his  essential  character  in  ways  fit  and 
intended  to  make  his  creatures  better  and  happier. 
This  law  of  necessary  self-enunciation  applies  to  all 
intelligent  beings  in  a  degree  corresponding  to  their 
faculties  and  powers.  It  is  the  source  of  art,  the 
means  of  improvement,  and  the  chief  agency  for 
producing  like  admirations,  affections,  and  endeav- 
ors in  other  minds.  The  strongest  social  bond,  it 
fosters  reciprocity,  and  discourages  self-isolation. 
True  art  is  the  expression  of  whatever  is  best  in  the 
soul  of  the  artist.  He  is  under  inward  compulsion 
to  actualize  his  noblest  conceptions,  not  merely  to 
gratify  the  irrepressible  impulse  to  incarnate  his 
ideals,  but  also  to  impart  to  others  something  of  his 
own  joy  in  the  beautiful. 


220  GODANDMUSIC 

Even  more  potentially  than  speech,  music  is  prob- 
ably a  universal  mode  of  self-expression.  It  is  a 
cosmic  fact  and  power.  The  morning  stars  caught 
the  theme  of  creative  goodness  given  out  by  their 
Almighty  Maker,  and  the  universe  still  rings  with 
its  developing  motive.  Earth,  we  may  believe,  is 
but  a  diminutive  sample  of  innumerable  worlds  filled 
with  singing  flames  and  waters,  melodious  birds  and 
insects,  and,  must  it  not  be  in  other  worlds  than 
one,  with  intelligent  beings  capable,  like  ourselves, 
of  taking  the  divine  hints  in  nature,  discovering  the 
tonal  laws  of  universal  acoustics,  and  creating  true 
music,  antiphonal  to  that  which  springs  from  na- 
ture's heart. 

The  history  of  altruism  in  the  natural  realm 
began,  it  is  said,  with  the  self-dividing  process 
by  which  the  earliest  infusoria  multiplied  their 
kind.  This  being  so,  fatherhood,  motherhood, 
heroism,  and  vicarious  redemption  had  their 
physical  origin  in  the  temporary  self-sacrifice 
of  the  amoeba  for  the  sake  of  posterity.  But  we 
must  go  farther  back  for  the  fountain  head  of  un- 
selfish love.     Care  for  others  sprang  eternal  in  the 


h 


THE  ALTRUISTIC  ART  221 

heart  of  God.  Creation  was  never  the  outcome  of  a 
selfish  desire  on  the  part  of  the  Deity  for  mere  self- 
realization,  still  less  for  self-glorification,  but  in  the 
very  act  was  included,  as  its  central  motive,  the  pur- 
pose to  bless  the  objects  of  creative  power.  God 
does  not  so  much  love  to  create,  as  he  creates  to 
love.  Hence,  in  the  elementary  arrangements  of  the 
universe  the  provision  for  music  is  involved  in  the 
cosmic  laws  of  vibration.  It  is  not  irreverent  to  say 
that  mentally,  like  skilled  composers,  or  even  audi- 
bly by  causative  will,  God  sings  as  he  creates.  The 
noblest  music  of  earth  seems  but  an  echo  of  supernal 
strains. 

The  delight  of  most  animals  and  many  insects  in 
musical  sounds  of  their  own  or  of  human  make,  is 
an  instance  of  the  Creator's  thought  for  the  welfare 
of  all  his  sentient  creatures.  A  musician  once  lent 
his  aid  to  scientific  tests  of  the  effect  of  various  in- 
struments upon  the  animals  confined  in  the  London 
"  Zoo."  The  account  given,  in  the  book,  "  Wild 
Animals  in  Captivity,"  is  interesting  and  suggestive. 
The  fable  of  Orpheus  and  his  lyre  was  turned  into 
latter-day,  scientific  fact.  The  only  animals  entirely 
indifferent  were  the  seals.     Elephants,  wolves,  jack- 


222  GOD   AND    MUSIC 

als,  and  foxes  did  not  seem  to  enjoy  the  kind  of 
music  offered  them.  Almost  all  the  other  animals 
were  more  or  less  pleased,  especially  the  serpent 
tribe.  As  a  rule,  the  shrill  notes  of  the  piccolo  an- 
noyed, frightened,  or  enraged,  while  the  flute 
soothed,  or  pleased.  The  violin  suited  the  animal 
auditors  best  of  all,  which  shows  a  fine  apprecia- 
tion. He  who  watches  the  sparrows  fall  has  pro- 
vided for  his  humbler  creatures  some  share  in  the 
pleasure  given  by  sweet  sounds,  an  overflow,  as  it 
were,  of  his  own  joy  in  them. 

Musical  sound  is  defined  by  Hauptmann  to  be 
sound  capable  of  being  used  as  a  means  of  expres- 
sion. As  a  cosmic  fact,  music,  whether  potential  or 
actual,  is  an  outflow  of  the  benevolence  of  an  ar- 
tistic Creator,  in  which  some  of  his  choicest  attri- 
butes express  themselves.  It  is  incumbent  now  to 
point  out  ways  in  which  this  proposition  may  be 
proved  by  both  the  history  and  the  philosophy  of 
this  art. 

The  ability  to  distinguish  musical  tones  and  in- 
tervals is  practically  ecumenical.  German  statis- 
ticians report  as  many  persons  naturally  incapable 


THE  ALTRUISTIC   ART  223 

of  tone  perception  as  lack  any  other  faculty,  that  is, 
about  six  or  ei|^  in  a  thousand.  What  this  well- 
nigh  universal  aesthetic  capability  means  for  human 
happiness  and  welfare  is  beyond  computation. 
Huxley  was  much  impressed  by  it.  "  One  thing," 
he  said,  "  which  weighs  with  me  against  pessimism, 
and  tells  for  a  benevolent  Author  of  the  universe,  is 
my  enjoyment  of  scenery  and  music.  I  do  not  see 
how  they  could  have  helped  in  the  struggle  for  ex- 
istence.    They  are  gratuitous  gifts." 

The  value  of  music  as  a  means  of  individual  culture 
and  enjoyment  is  a  matter  of  common  experience; 
Its  importance  to  the  social  nature  and  to  social  or- 
ganization is  at  least  equal.  The  gulf  between  souls 
widens  with  advance  of  knowledge  and  refinement. 
Humanity  differentiates  as  it  evolves.  There  is  a 
solidarity  of  atoms,  and  among  most  animals,  of  a 
degree  that  has  little  counterpart  among  men.  To 
bridge  the  distance  between  human  individuals  God 
has  given  the  race  various  means  of  expression,  and 
among  them  the  art  of  music.  What  possibilities  it 
contains  as  a  method  of  future  intercourse  between 
souls,  finer  and  more  catholic  than  the  rest,  cannot 
be  foretold.     It  may  yet  prove  an  aesthetic  VolapUk. 


224  GODANDMUSIC 

But  the  social  value  of  music  can  hardly  be  over- 
stated. There  is  a  wholly  beneficent  communism 
appertaining  to  the  art. 

It  is  a  blessing  not  always  appreciated,  that  music, 
like  all  man's  best  privileges  and  possessions,  is  be- 
stowed as  a  potentiality,  not  as  a  finished  product. 
Men  must  mine,  explore,  experiment  for  it.  They 
cannot  "  sing  like  a  bird  "  without  hard  work,  which 
the  bird  is  entirely  spared.  The  rudimentary  and 
incomplete  elements  of  music  furnished  in  nature 
might  seem  a  handicap  to  man's  artistic  career,  but 
are  in  truth  the  best  possible  provision  for  com- 
peUing  the  use  of  reason  and  will.  This  arrange- 
ment is  a  prime  condition  of  rational  and  sesthetic 
evolution.  Both  character  and  culture  result.  In- 
sects drone,  and  hear  but  a  few  noises,  and  those  at 
short  range.  Birds  and  beasts  repeat  the^.same 
notes  from  age  to  age.  Their  faculties  run  forever 
in  narrow  grooves.  Before  man  opens  the  boundless 
universe  of  material,  mental,  and  spiritual  reality, 
and  he  is  forever  allured  onward  in  the  search  for 
jiew  truth,  fairer  beauty,  unattained  goodness. 
Growth  and  culture  are  gained  in  the  pursuit  of 
scientific  knowledge  or  of  artistic  excellence,  that 


THE  ALTRUISTIC  ART  225 

would  be  impossible  if  either  came  Minerva-like, 
full  statured  and  equipped.  A  complete  science  of 
music,  or  a  perfect  symphony  handed  down  from 
the  skies,  would  be  a  more  than  doubtful  boon. 
The  necessary  materials  and  organs,  the  aesthetic 
faculties,  the  craving  for  joyous  expression,  and  the 
passion  for  progress  are  given  man,  with  elementary 
hints  in  the  so-called  music  of  nature  to  entice  to 
the  search  for  a  more  adequate  art  of  euphonious 
sound.  Thus  the  music-loving  mind  is  tempted  and 
guided  onward  in  the  twofold  path  of  melody  and 
harmony,  until  it  not  only  knows  the  ecstasy  of 
consummate  musical  sound  and  form,  but  the  artist 
becomes  a  creator,  and  shares  God's  peculiar  joy  of 
imparting  pure  and  elevating  happiness.  The  mu- 
sician of  every  degree  may  also  minister  to  minds 
diseased  and  to  suffering  bodies,  as  well  as  to 
the  healthful  enjoyment  of  all,  young  or  old,  in  any 
land  or  season.  The  provision  of  such  a  therapeutic 
means,  an  unmixed  blessing  to  the  well,  and  a  de- 
lightful remedy  for  the  sick,  is  a  clear  indication  of 
presiding  goodness  in  the  world.  As  a  mental  and 
moral  discipline  music  takes  rank  with  the  most 
valuable    educational    means.     Pythagoras    under- 


226  GODANDMUSIC 

stood  this,  and  the  Greeks  long  maintained  his 
quadrivium,  in  which  music  was  one  of  the  most 
important  of  the  four  branches  pursued.  Gymnastic 
and  musical  disciplines  are  again  resuming  their 
proper  places  in  education.  As  yet,  however, 
neither  has  been  thoroughly  adapted  to  its  place 
and  work.  Music  is  still  far  too  much  a  mere 
accomplishment,  an  unthinking  recreation,  or  an 
exceptional  adjunct  to  culture.  It  contains  ele- 
ments of  mental  and  spiritual  betterment,  which, 
fully  developed  and  utilized,  would  excel  those 
furnished  by_any  other  single  art. 

Like  all  real  art,  music  is  an  exacting  mistress. 
It  frowns  on  sensual  indulgence,  and  turns  its  back 
on  those  who  do  not  yield  entire  obedience  to  its 
behests.  Consecration,  industry,  intelligence,  and 
costly  feeling  are  conditions  exacted  for  its  high 
rewards.  The  senses  are  thus  trained  to  finest  per- 
ception, the  mind  is  made  intent  and  retentive,  and 
the  side  of  the  soul  toward  the  invisible  and  infinite 
is  rendered  acutely  sensitive.  \  Prophets  and  poets 
have  always  sung  their  loftiest  messages  in  rhythmic 
if  not  melodic  strains.  Though  the  votaries  of  this 
inherently  beneficent  art  often  misuse  its  capabilities, 


THE  ALTRUISTIC   ART  227 

and  abuse  their  own  souls  by  making  selfish  en- 
joyment or  gain  their  chief  end,  yet  the  generous 
element  of  self-donating  devotion  is  the  legitimate 
issue  of  music  rightly  pursued. 

The  primal  source  of  music  we  have  found  in  the 
essential  nature  of  God,  which  is  characterized  by 
wisest  love,  perfect  harmony,  and  holy  beauty. 
Its  supreme  excellence  is  not  so  much  the  pleasure 
it  everywhere  gives  in  this  world  and,  we  infer,  in 
all  inhabited  worlds,  as  the  fact  that  it  tends  to 
reproduce  the  same  qualities  in  human  life.  It  is 
preeminently  the  Christian  art.  Except  poetically, 
music  is  not  "  love  in  search  of  a  word,"  but  love  in 
the  act  of  expressing  itself  audibly  for  the  delight 
and  betterment  of  others.  The  beautiful,  in 
Windelband's  conception,  is  "  the  object  of  a 
completely  disinterested  pleasure."  Right  enjoy- 
ment of  it  robs  no  one.  Like  charity,  like  religion, 
it  enriches  the  giver.  The  exercise  of  musical 
faculty  is  the  forthgiving  of  very  life.  In  it  imagi- 
nation, sensibility,  understanding,  and  nervous  en- 
ergy harmoniously  cooperate.  Tonal  beauty  utters 
itself  for  immediate  effect.  It  must  please,  or  it  is 
a  failure.     The  purpose  of  the  musician  is  to  give 


228  GOD   AND   MUSIC 

pleasure.  Unless  the  artist  is  false  to  his  art  and 
his  God,  the  ruling  motive  in  all  he  does  is  so  to 
please  as  to  refine,  cheer,  and  elevate.  "  Funda- 
mentally altruistic,"  music  has  been  pronounced  by 
good  philosophic  authority. 

Nothing  in  aesthetics  or  in  Scripture  forbids  per- 
sonal enjoyment  of  art,  while  activity  in  it  imparts 
pleasure  to  others.  The  exercise  of  artistic  facul- 
ties comes  within  the  purview  of  the  second  great 
commandment,  "  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as 
thyself."  Musical  gifts  imply  the  right  to  share 
their  benefits  with  those  who  are  in  the  neighbor's 
place,  according  to  the  ability  of  each  to  enjoy 
them,  whether  actively  or  passively.  Dr.  Van 
Dyke,  in  "  The  Ruling  Passion,"  puts  the  twofold 
principle  in  a  happy  way :  "  He  was  selfish  enough 
to  want  the  pleasure  of  making  everybody  feel  the 
same  delight  that  he  felt  in  the  clear  tones,  the 
merry  cadences,  and  caressing  flow  of  his  violin. 
That  was  consolation.  That  was  power.  That 
was  success." 

What  endless  comfort  sympathetic  and,  also, 
contrasted  music  has  given  to  the  heavy-hearted 
children  of  earth  !     Camps,  battle-fields,  hospitals. 


THE  ALTRUISTIC  ART  229 

shipwrecks,  pilgrimages,  prisons,  the  stake,  and  the 
arena  have  witnessed  its  healing,  cheering,  con- 
quering power.  An  example  or  two  must  suf- 
fice. 

A  medical  writer,  of  musical  intelligence  and 
taste,  relates  that  when  death  had  laid  his  finger  on 
the  sensitive,  restless,  and  highly  poetic  Chopin,  he 
sent  for  his  friend,  the  Countess  Potocka,  to  assuage 
his  death  agony  by  her  melodious  voice.  The 
heart-broken  singer  obeyed  her  master.  The  dying 
man  came  under  the  spell  of  her  sympathetic 
tones ;  he  forgot  his  torment,  and  fell  asleep  with 
a  feeling  of  grateful  comfort  that  such  soothing 
had  come  to  him  from  his  beloved  art  in  his  last 
extremity. 

Mendelssohn  wrote  to  a  friend  that  Madame 
Ertmann  told  him  that,  after  she  lost  her  last  child, 
Beethoven  shrank  from  coming  to  her  house  for 
some  time.  At  length  he  invited  her  to  visit  him. 
She  found  him  seated  at  the  piano.  Simply  say- 
ing, "  Let  us  speak  to  each  other  by  music,"  he 
played  on  for  more  than  an  hour.  "  He  said  much 
to  me,"  Avas  the  testimony  of  his  bereaved  listener, 
"  and  at  last  gave  me  consolation."     Referring  to 


230  GODANDMUSIC 

this  incident,  Mendelssohn  said  of  himself,  "  Music 
is  a  distinct  language,  speaking  plainly  to  me." 
Those  who  are  sensitive  to  its  accents  and 
cognizant  of  their  meaning,  often  find  in  its 
unworded  messages  inexpressible  comfort.  Even 
when  the  thought  they  bear  is  not  literally  com- 
prehended, the  sweet  and  tender  tones  themselves 
bring  spiritual  balm  to  the  sad  hearted.  But  the 
fitting  words  of  psalm,  or  hymn,  or  sympathetic 
ballad,  borne  on  the  appealing  strains  of  familiar 
music,  have  had  a  history  of  cheer  and  healing  far 
wider  than  that  possible  to  instrumental  harmonies. 
Hans  Christian  Andersen  relates,  in  the  autobio- 
graphical story  of  his  life,  a  characteristic  incident 
of  Jenny  Lind,  and  remarks  that  on  this  occasion 
only  did  he  ever  hear  her  express  self-conscious  joy 
in  her  great  talent.  She  had  become  interested  in 
a  society  for  the  aid  of  unfortunate  children,  and 
offered  to  give  a  night's  performance  at  double 
prices  for  their  benefit.  It  returned  a  large  sum, 
and  when  she  heard  that  she  had  thus  helped  a 
large  number  of  worse  than  orphaned  children,  her 
countenance  beamed,  and  tears  filled  her  eyes. 
"  Is  it  not  beautiful,"  she  exclaimed,  "  that  I  can 


THE  ALTRUISTIC  ART  231 

sing  so  ! "  "  Through  her,"  the  author  friend  of 
unnumbered  children  adds  to  his  account,  "  I  first 
became  sensible  of  the  hoUness  there  is  in  art. 
Through  her  I  learned  that  one  must  forget  one's 
self  in  the  service  of  the  Supreme."  Music  has 
with  much  truth  been  called  the  only  unfallen 
angel. 

The  volunteer  visitor  among  the  prisoners  in 
New  York  C»ty  who  won  the  title  of  "  the  angel  of 
the  Tombs,"  spent  two  days  in  the  death  cell  of 
an  Italian  murderess.  She  said  afterward  of  this 
experience  that  she  regarded  it  as  the  greatest 
achievement  of  her  life,  and  described  it  in  thrilling 
language :  "  She  lay  in  my  arms  when  she  received 
the  death  sentence.  I  went  to  the  prison  with  her. 
It  was  an  August  night.  I  stood  at  the  barred 
window  looking  out.  The  only  thing  we  could 
hear  was  the  tramp  of  the  guards.  I  felt  dispirited 
as  I  watched  the  moon  flooding  everything.  It 
seemed  awful.  Suddenly  there  came  to  me  music. 
It  was  low  and  soft  at  first.  Then  I  made  out 
hymns.  The  choir  of  the  prison  was  at  practice. 
As  the  music  came  to  me  I  knelt  down  by  the  girl, 
and  I  knew  that  if  it  would  do  any  good  I  would 


232  GOD  AND   MUSIC 

give  my  life  for  hers.  Then  I  resolved  that  if  I 
could  save  but  one  woman,  my  life  would  have 
been  well  lived."  When  Rebecca  Foster  was 
borne  to  her  reward  in  a  literal  chariot  of  fire  at 
the  burning  of  a  New  York  hotel,  this  memory 
might  well  have  been  a  strong  support  in  the  fiery 
trial,  and  strains  of  heaven's  own  music  doubtless 
greeted  her  as  she  entered  the  home  of  the  Christ- 
hke. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  compute  the  effect  on 
character  and  life  wrought  by  the  ministry  of  music 
in  lifting  the  selfish  out  of  their  narrow  "  prison  of 
the  soul,"  and  displacing  low  thoughts  and  habits 
by  the  expulsive  power  of  a  disinterested  enthu- 
siasm of  art.  The  results  of  popular  choral  classes 
and  societies,  like  the  Choral  Union  conducted  by 
Mr.  Frank  Damrosch  in  New  York  City,  furnish 
abundant  evidence  of  its  uplifting  and  refining  in- 
fluence. One  of  the  most  fruitful  instances  of  the 
kind  in  this  country  was  that  of  the  work  under- 
taken among  the  poor  children  of  Chicago  by  Mr. 
William  M.  Tomlins,  conductor  of  the  famous 
Apollo  Club.  In  an  address  made  by  request  at 
the  Parliament  of  Religions,  he  gave  a  most  inter- 


THE  ALTRUISTIC  ART  233 

csting  account  of  the  experiment  and  its  outcome. 
The  narrative  is  worth  somewhat  extended  insertion 
as  well  illustrating  the  topic  of  this  chapter. 

Mr.  Tomlins  began  by  speaking  of  the  multitude 
of  voices  spoiled  by  wrong  habits  that  might  have 
been  corrected  in  childhood, — a  pertinent  illustra- 
tion also  of  the  need  of  right  moral  training  in 
youth.  He  determined  to  help  the  rising  genera- 
tion to  better  things  in  both  respects.  For  nearly 
or  quite  a  score  of  years  he  taught  gratuitously  sev- 
eral large  classes  of  children,  not  from  the  avenues, 
but  most  of  them  from  the  alleys  and  poorer  streets 
of  the  city.  His  immediate  object  was  to  train 
them  to  the  right  use  of  their  voices.  At  first  they 
were  rough  in  manners  and  selfish  in  everything. 
But  soon  a  better  mind  came  to  them  through  the 
influence  of  music  taught  in  a  Christian  spirit. 
The  children  sang  always  and  everywhere,  at  home 
and  in  the  streets.  Their  characters  gradually 
changed.  Rude  boys  became  gentle  and  helpful, 
wild  girls,  thoughtful  and  modest.  Some  went  to 
the  hospitals  and  sang.  Others  started  little  classes 
for  their,  favored  companions.  One  boy  established 
an  "  Old  Clothes  Club,"  to  gather  up  worn  clothing 


234  GODANDMUSIC 

and  distribute  it  among  the  poor.  Another  issued 
a  little  philanthropic  newspaper.  With  that  spirit 
of  helping  others,  a  great  blessing  came  to  the 
children  themselves. 

Under  its  generous  conductor's  lead,  the  Apollo 
Club  gave  ten-cent  concerts  to  the  working  people  of 
Chicago,  seventy  thousand  of  whom  attended  them 
in  four  years.  Then  the  same  leader  in  artistic 
well-doing  went  to  the  musically  gifted  among  his 
working-class  audiences  and  said,  "  God  has  given 
you  voices,  and  taught  you  to  use  them;  why  not 
sing  to  help  your  neighbors?"  The  appeal  was 
responded  to  in  the  same  spirit,  and  the  results, 
ethical  and  aesthetic,  showed  a  widely  self-multiply- 
ing power  for  good.  The  address  before  that  gath- 
ering of  religionists  from  all  parts  of  the  world 
ended  with  these  words  :  "  It  is  my  desire  to  show 
you  that  in  art,  as  in  religion,  the  lines  all  lead  up- 
ward." The  record  of  every  such  endeavor,  under- 
taken in  a  kindred  spirit,  shows  that  the  lines  of 
altruistic  art  lead  outward  as  well  as  upward,  and 
inclose  an  ever  increasing  number  of  beneficiaries 
who  in  turn  become  benefactors,  and  so  fulfill  the 
essential  law  of  Christianity.     With  a  change  of  two 


THE   ALTRUISTIC   ART  235 

or  three  words  these  verses  of  a  hymn  express  what 
should  be  the  feeling  of  every  musician : 

Yea,  we  know  thy  lore  rejoices 

O'er  each  work  of  thine  ; 
Thou  didst  cars  and  hands  and  voices 

For  kind  deeds  combine ; 
Craftsnum's  art  and  music's  measure 

For  thy  senrice 

Didst  design. 

Here,  great  God,  to-day  we  oSier 

Of  thine  own  to  thee. 
And  for  thine  acceptance  proffer. 

All  unworthily, 
Hearts  and  minds,  and  hands  and  voices. 

In  our  choicest 

Melody. 


THE    SOCIAL    ART 


"  The  united  action  of  the  full  chorus  and  orchestra  is  a  perfect 
transcript,  down  to  the  last  and  finest  particular,  of  perfected  hu- 
man society.  The  relation  of  voices  and  instruments  to  each 
other,  the  variety  in  harmony,  the  obedience  to  law  drawing  its 
power  from  sympathetic  feeling,  the  inspiration  of  a  noble  theme, 
the  conspiring  together  to  enforce  a  mighty  feeling  which  is  also  a 
thought — we  thus  have  an  exact  symbol  of  the  destiny  of  hu- 
manity. 

"  As  in  nature  there  is  a  resolution  of  forces  by  which  heat  be- 
comes light,  so  emotion,  of  whatever  sort,  if  intrusted  to  music, 
turns  into  joy.  What  alchemy  is  like  this !  We  are  moving  on 
toward  an  age  and  a  world  of  sympathy,  and  sympathy  is  the 
solvent  of  trouble.  In  some  supernal  sense,  then,  music  will  be 
the  vocation  of  humanity  when  its  full  redemption  is  come.  The 
summit  of  existence  is  feeling ;  the  summit  of  character  is  sym- 
pathy, and  music  is  the  art-form  that  links  them  together." — T,  T. 
MUNGSR. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  SOCIAL  ART 

The  pursuit  of  scientific  truth  is  usually  a  solitary 
quest.  It  has  as  an  ultimate  end  the  greater  good 
of  the  greatest  number;  but  the  search  after  the 
physical  or  the  psychical  secrets  of  nature  ordinarily 
demands  silence  and  entire  devotion  to  the  exacting 
task.  Art  is  more  social  in  its  nature,  its  environ- 
ing conditions,  and  its  human  aim.  Artist  folk  are 
a  sociable  people.  Their  all-comprehending  object, 
beauty,  in  one  or  other  of  its  forms,  has  direct 
reference  to  hearers  or  beholders,  to  audience  or 
spectators. 

Music  is  essentially  communistic.  The  •'  unchar- 
tered freedom"  of  the  common  air  divides  its 
wealth  wthout  partiality  among  all  who  have  power 
to  receive  and  enjoy.  It  does  not  even  require  the 
light  of  day  or  of  lamp,  nor  the  faculty  of  sight,  to 
convey  its  benison  to  ears  attent.  The  "stilly 
night "  carries  its  message  to  mind  and  heart  with 
239 


240  GODANDMUSIC 

often  an  added  freight  of  meaning.  The  visual 
arts  have  somewhat  aristocratic  limitations,  though 
they,  too,  are  vested  with  a  democratic  suffrage  of 
the  Athenian  sort.  But  music  has  all  times,  places, 
and  peoples  for  its  own. 

The  ministrants  of  music's  bounty  are  perforce 
compelled  to  pay  regard  to  all  who  aid  and  all  who 
receive.  Their  business  and  the  laws  of  their  art 
require  united  intention  and  attention,  with  recipro- 
cal sympathy  and  cooperation,  under  penalty  of 
excommunication  by  the  benevolent  despotism  of 
acoustics.  Play  in  time  and  tune,  or  be  silent ! 
Artist  and  artisan,  composer  and  listener,  all  con- 
cerned in  the  realization  of  potential  music  must  be 
in  actual,  conscientious  agreement,  if  it  is  not  to 
be  strangled  at  its  birth,  or  murdered  afterward. 
The  law  of  syntony  exemplified  by  Marconi's  in- 
vention, binds  performer  and  hearer  in  mutual  obli- 
gation, or  the  most  exquisite  music  is  given  in  vain. 
Many  of  God's  best  messages  for  the  ear  and  soul 
of  man  wander  on  Herzian  waves  of  the  spiritual 
atmosphere,  seeking,  inquiring  everywhere  in  vain, 
for  hearts  attuned  to  receive  them.  The  saying, 
"  He  that  hath  ears  to  hear,  let  him  hear,"  gains 


THE  SOCIAL  ART  S41 

greatiy  added  force  from  the  new  revelations  of 
acoustical  law  made  by  the  science  of  our  day. 

This,  then,  is  the  democratic  art.  The  laws  of 
sound  are  the  same  for  all.  Vibration  numbers  are 
identical  in  every  zone  and  land,  and  doubtless 
throughout  the  universe.  Sounds  at  all  pitches 
move  at  the  same  rate  of  speed  in  the  same  medium. 
Hence  alone  harmony  is  possible,  and  is  the  same 
for  all  ears.  The  same  aesthetic  principles  must 
rule  with  all  normal  minds.  They  afford  endless 
scope  for  differing  conceptions,  styles,  and  tastes, 
yet  inhere  in  what  may  some  time  be  found  an  ex- 
act science. 

Racial  and  individual  tastes  divide  mankind  into 
temporarily  opposing  camps,  but  there  is  a  growing 
internationalism  of  music  that  gives  candid  hearing 
to  every  school  and  style.  The  same  masterpieces 
of  tone  poetry  are  enjoyed  the  world  around  by  all 
who  possess  sufficient  culture.  The  priceless  herit- 
age which  Teutonic  peoples  possess  in  the  great 
composers  belonging  to  that  stock,  had  no  small 
part,  if  Bismarck  was  a  competent  judge,  in  weld- 
ing together  the  German  empire.  A  similar  influ- 
ence is  visible  in  the  history  of  other  nationalities. 


242  GODANDMUSIC 

A  truly  American  national  hymn,  without  a  trace 
or  memory  of  sectionalism  or  race  spirit,  would  be 
a  powerful  agent  in  perfecting  the  solidarity  of  our 
composite  republic.  It  is,  perhaps,  a  Providential 
incident  that  our  commonly  used  lyric  in  praise  of 
country  and  liberty  is  sung  to  a  tune  of  foreign 
origin.  The  fact  that  its  strains  are  possibly  of 
German  parentage,  and  furnish  the  national  anthem 
of  Germany,  Heil  Dir  im  Siegerkranz,  and  that 
they  are  also  used  around  the  entire  globe  to  ex- 
press the  loyalty  and  patriotism  of  the  subjects  of 
imperial  Britain,  may  be  prophetic  of  a  time  not 
far  distant  when  the  splendid  vision  of  Cecil 
Rhodes,  of  a  peace-compelling  Dreibund  of  three 
great  nations  of  essentially  common  stock,  will  be 
realized.  Music  is  to  have  an  influential  role  in 
preparing  the  way  for  the  hoped-for  federation  of 
mankind.  Folk-songs  were  probably  the  first  at- 
tempts of  men  to  express  the  social  feeling,  and 
also  to  represent  tribal,  national,  or  racial  character- 
istics. This  function  doubtless  increased  the  "  sur- 
vival value "  of  musical  peoples  by  giving  them  a 
^nse  of  oneness,  clan  sympathy,  and  the  begin- 
nings of  patriotism.     Is  it  too  much  to  hope  for  a 


THE  SOCIAL  ART  243 

world  folk-song,  which  shall  be  common  to  hu- 
manity, and  shall  keep  alive  the  feeling  of  unity  amid 
endless  variety  of  race,  nation,  religion,  and  cul- 
ture? 

This  noble  art  teaches  the  indispensable  social 
principle  of  liberty  within  law.  The  laws  of  mu- 
sical sound  are  exact  and  imperative.  The  loftiest 
genius  that  seems  at  times  to  make  new  laws  for 
the  art,  is,  nevertheless,  subject  to  their  sway.  Yet, 
in  either  unconscious  or  conscientious  obedience  to 
them,  the  most  original  and  inspired  of  artists  find 
the  fixed  la\vs  of  sound  an  invaluable  aid  to  ordered 
freedom.  They  are  wings,  not  chains;  at  the 
least,  they  are  beaten  paths  among  the  heights 
enabling  him  to  ascend  his  mounts  of  vision,  and 
descend  to  the  waiting  world  with  secure  step,  bear- 
ing great  treasure.  In  nothing  is  the  benevolent 
wisdom  of  the  Creator  more  evident  than  in  put- 
ting his  creatures  endowed  with  a  goodly  measure 
of  free-will  into  a  universe  governed  by  strictest 
law.  The  system  of  universal  order  finds  in  music 
a  most  instructive  analogue  and  a  beautiful  ex- 
ample. It  has  long  taught  men  the  beatitude  of 
obedience,  and  will  yet  be  a  schoolmistress  to  help 


244  GODANDMUSIC 

them  win  social  redemption.  Music  gives  freest 
scope  for  individuality,  while  restraining  independ- 
ence within  the  bounds  of  self-mastery,  essential 
alike  to  art  and  to  society. 

If  the  summum  bonum  of  social  organization  is, 
as  Spencer  and  Giddings  affirm,  the  full  development 
of  the  personality  of  social  man,  then  society  has 
in  this  puissant  art  an  effective  agency  for  securing 
this  very  end.  Complete  personality  cannot  be  at- 
tained without  reference  and  deference  to  society  as 
a  whole,  and  to  the  other  members  of  it.  Anarchy 
is  social  discord.  Every  man  for  himself,  would  be 
the  same  in  principle  as  every  instrument  and  voice 
for  itself.  The  resulting  acoustical  chaos  would 
aptly  represent  the  social  condition  that  would  en- 
sue. Prof.  Goldwin  Smith  has  been  perhaps  the 
only  writer  to  insist  on  the  universal  teaching  of 
music  in  schools  for  the  young  as  a  specific  against 
anarchistic  tendencies.  It  is  a  proposition  worthy 
the  attention  of  statesmen  and  educators. 

Men  will  always  be  separated  by  intellectual 
conceptions.  Charles  the  Fifth  could  not  make  his 
roomful  of  clocks  tick  together.     The  civilized  world 


THE  SOCIAL  ART  245 

has  in  good  part  learned  the  lesson  his  experience 
taught  him  too  late.  But  feeling,  fundamental 
human  emotion,  unites.  One  true  touch  of  it 
makes  the  world  akin.  Mungo  Park  found  quick 
sympathy  from  a  heathen  woman  in  darkest 
Africa,  when  a  falling  branch  hurt  his  head. 
Telegraph  and  cable  send  nerve  shocks  of  com- 
mon pain  to  people  in  every  land  on  the  globe, 
when  calamity  has  fallen  heavily  upon  any  of 
human  kind.  This  is  one  fruit  of  Christian  civili- 
zation aided  by  the  inventions  it  has  inspired.  The 
Christ  spirit  will  yet  blend  all  human  hearts  in  a 
sympathetic  unity  denied  to  the  intellects  of  men. 
Music  will  mightily  help  on  the  good  day  when  the 
law  of  kindness  shall  rule  mankind.  It  appeals  to 
the  universal  element  in  man's  nature.  This  ele- 
ment, in  its  ultimate  analysis,  is  the  aesthetic 
susceptibility.  By  the  derivation  of  the  word,  the 
aesthetic  sense  is  perception  by  feeling,  and  the 
original  verb  meant  to  perceive  by  the  ear.  Thus 
music  is  the  fundamental  art,  and  touches  all  men 
in  their  common  human  feelings.  Great  music 
brings  us  very  close  together,  soul  to  soul,  without 
regard  to  accidents  of  birth,  station,  or  other  divisive 


246  GODANDMUSIC 

factors.  All  music  which  interprets  the  human 
heart,  in  a  word,  human  music,  is  understood  by 
people  of  all  nationalities,  all  classes,  and  every 
grade  of  culture. 

Democracy  needs  music  to  humanize,  refine,  and 
elevate  it.  Music  of  the  right  character  will  have 
this  effect ;  but  there  is  always  need  to  discriminate, 
and  to  select  only  that  which  will  benefit.  Having 
such  direct  and  subtle  power  over  the  emotional 
and  sympathetic  nature,  and  being  so  closely  con- 
nected with  the  nerve  centres  in  its  origin  and 
influence,  it  may  easily  leave  the  susceptible  mind 
open  to  evil  impulses.  Therefore,  time,  place,  kind 
of  music,  and  company  should  be  carefully  chosen. 
The  music  of  the  home,  the  school,  and  the  friendly 
circle  has  a  socialistic  importance  even  greater  than 
that  of  the  public  audience  room,  or  possibly,  of  the 
church. 

The  subject  of  the  present  chapter  involves  so 
wide  a  range  of  both  theoretical  and  practical  con- 
cern that  it  can  be  presented,  in  limited  space,  only 
in  the  way  of  suggestion.  It  opens  up  a  vista  of 
possible,  and  also  probable,  social  achievement  for 
the    benefit    of   all    mankind  that  should  attract 


THESOCIALART  147 

thinkers  and  encourage  practical  effort.  A  passage 
from  Mazzini's  essay  on  the  Philosophy  of  Music, 
forecasting  the  possibilities  of  the  art,  is  appended 
as  stimulating  and  suggestive. 

"  The  power  of  Genius  will  be  strengthened  a 
thousandfold  by  a  sense  of  the  g^'catness  of  the 
social  aim,  the  vastness  of  the  means  at  its  disposal, 
and  the  possibility  of  achieving  an  immortality  to 
which  none  dare  to  aspire  at  the  present  day.  It 
will  ascend  to  heavens  yet  unexplored,  and  its 
unbroken  harmonies  and  Raffaellesque  melodies 
will  present  to  us  a  reflex  of  the  Infinite  to  which 
the  human  soul  is  born  to  aspire,  and  of  which  the 
starry  firmament,  woman,  beauty,  love,  pity,  the 
memory  of  the  dead,  and  our  yearning  hope  to 
rejoin  them  are  among  the  thousand  rays.  Genius 
will  solve  the  problem  of  the  struggle  that  has  gone 
on  for  thousands  of  years  between  mind  and  matter, 
good  and  evil,  heaven  and  hell ;  and  will  elevate  the 
social  idea — for  this  is  the  true  mission  of  Music — 
to  the  height  of  a  religion ;  raise  our  cold,  inoper- 
ative belief  into  enthusiasm,  and  enthusiasm  into 
activity  of  sacrifice  and  virtue.  Genius  will  recom- 
pense and  console  sacrifice  by  leading  the  spirit 


248  GODANDMUSIC 

through  the  musical  expression  of  all  the  passions 
in  an  ascending  series  of  sublime  harmonies, 
wherein  every  instrument  will  represent  an  affec- 
tion, every  melody  an  action,  every  concord  a 
moral  synthesis." 


THE    RELIGIOUS    ART 


k 


"  There  is  a  constant  endeavor  of  man  to  relate  himself  with  the 
Infinite,  not  only  in  the  cognitive  viray,  but  also  in  the  emotional 
way.  We  can  only  think  toward  the  Infinite ;  it  may  be  that  our 
love  can  reach  nearer  its  Object.  As  a  philosophic  truth,  music 
does  carry  our  emotion  toward  the  Infinite.  No  one  can  doubt  this 
who  reflects  for  a  moment  on  the  rise  of  music  in  the  Church. 
Not  only  does  it  win  its  way  into  the  Church,  but  it  gradually  takes 
on  more  and  more  importance  in  the  service  of  worship.  There 
are  those  who  declare  that  music  is  to  be  the  Church  of  the  future, 
wherein  all  creeds  will  unite  like  the  tones  in  a  chord," — Sidney 
Lanier. 

"  The  truth  that  music  is  for  religion  is  evident  in  the  fact  that 
nothing  calls  for  it  like  religion.  Eloquence  and  logic  will  not 
take  its  place.  Worship  being  a  moral  act  or  expression,  it  depends 
upon  the  rhythm  and  harmony  of  art  for  its  materials.  And  so  the 
Church  in  all  ages  has  flowered  into  song.  We  may  get  to  God  in 
many  ways — by  the  silent  communion  of  spirit  with  Spirit,  by 
aspiration,  by  fidelity  of  service,  but  there  is  no  path  of  expression 
so  open  and  direct  as  that  of  music." — T.  T.  Munger. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE   REUGIOUS   ART 

God  is  a  religious  being.  Every  man  should  be. 
Religion  is  the  voluntary  recognition  of  all  personal 
relations,  and  an  accordant  life.  More  largely  stated, 
it  is  the  self-expression  and  mutual  response  of  right- 
minded  persons,  the  one  to  the  other,  of  the  superior 
to  the  inferior  as  well  as  conversely.  Noblesse 
oblige.  God  owes  to  men  relatively  what  he  com- 
mands of  men,  and  more. 

Religion  is  the  outgoing  of  the  whole  personality, 
not  of  any  one  faculty  alone.  Like  all  conscious 
existence,  it  has  its  rise  in  feeling,  but  must  include 
the  activity  of  the  whole  being,  sense,  intellect, 
emotion,  and  will.  Otherwise  it  is  religiosity. 
Character  and  culture  are  religious  only  if  ruled 
by,  and  responsive  to,  the  divine  ideal. 

God  is  truly  religious  in  that  he  is  always  gov- 
erned by  the  perfect  laws  of  his  own  nature,  ex- 
presses that  nature  in  faultless  forms  of  truth,  beauty, 
*5> 


252  GOD  AND   MUSIC 

and  goodness,  and  responds  to  the  real  need  of 
every  created  being  with  impartial  love,  wisdom, 
and  justice.  His  nature  is  holy,  unselfish  love. 
This  expresses  itself  to  his  creatures  in  method  and 
measure  adapted  to  the  capacity  and  need  of  each. 
The  religion  of  our  God  is  seen  in  the  ceaseless  out- 
giving of  the  infinite  riches  of  his  own  perfect  being 
for  the  benefit  of  the  intelligent  creation.  He  scat- 
ters stars  like  dust  through  space  illimitable,  that  he 
may  bestow  upon  their  inhabitants  blessings  in- 
numerable. The  greatest  possible  blessing  for 
beings  made  in  the  formal  Hkeness  of  God,  is  to  be 
really  like  him  in  the  supreme  love  of  truth,  of 
beauty,  and  of  unselfish  goodness.  To  secure  this 
end,  their  Maker  imparts  himself  to  them  in  multi- 
form modes  of  self-revelation.  For  all  men  the 
starting-point  and  constant  condition  of  a  religious 
life  are  that  they  shall  know  him,  and  shall  give  back 
to  him  in  turn,  and  then  to  their  fellow-creatures,  the 
generous  love  which  is  his  greatest  gift  to  them. 

Some  common  medium  of  expression  is  neces- 
sary for  this  mutual  relation.  Thought  naturally 
bodies  itself  in  words,  but  language,  always  varying 
and  narrowly  limited,  is  a  clumsy,  imperfect  chan- 


\ 


THE   RELIGIOUS  ART  153 

nel  of  mind.  Feeling  is  before,  beneath,  and  after 
thought,  and  demands  a  mode  of  utterance  of  its 
own.  Music  furnishes  a  fit  and  universal  medium 
for  this  greatest  psychical  power.  The  universe  is 
God's  expression  of  himself  in  nature,  and  the  uni- 
verse is  filled  with,  and  ruled  by,  the  elements,  laws, 
and  potencies  of  music.  All  Hving  beings  are  sub- 
ject, in  greater  or  less  degree,  to  the  sway  of  melody 
and  harmony,  and  most,  if  not  all,  have  some  fac- 
ulty of  musical  manifesto. 

By  what  medium  should  God  declare  himself  to 
finite  minds  ?  Not  through  sense  alone  or  chiefly, 
for  nothing  so  easily  discolors  thought.  Sense  and 
spirit  are  not  coordinate.  Neither  could  the  divine 
self-revelation  be  mainly  to  the  logical  faculty,  for 
this  has  to  do  with  the  forms  of  thought,  not  directly 
with  its  spiritual  content  The  moving  force  in  the 
world  of  spirit  is  emotion.  The  whole  man  stirs 
only  when  feeling  is  stirred.  "  Nothing  ever  yet 
had  any  great  power  over  man  that  was  divorced 
from  feeling."  Pure  intellect,  Aristotle  said,  moves 
nothing.  Emotion  is  excited  in  the  first  instance 
by  motion.  Isochronous  vibration  is  the  simple 
mechanical  means  by  which  God  communicates  to 


254  GOD  AND   MUSIC 

men  the  idea  of  beauty.  To  move  the  soul  imme- 
diately there  is  no  power  in  nature  Hke  that  of  mu- 
sic, for  music  is  motion  spiritualized. 

This  is  not  to  say  that  musical  vibration  causes 
emotion  in  a  mechanical  way,  or  that  emotion  is 
the  sole  object  and  end  of  music.  The  imagination, 
regal  faculty  of  mind,  is  the  medium  between  the 
vibrant  creations  of  this  spiritual  art  and  man's 
heart  and  will.  Art  is  God's  chosen  messenger  of 
ideal  beauty.  Eye  and  ear  alike  take  from  the  air 
its  vibratile  message,  and  the  interpreting  brain,  by 
some  process  beyond  our  comprehension,  translates 
aerial  waves  into  beauty  of  form,  color,  or  tone.  It 
is  the  mental  vision  or  audition  of  the  ideally  beau- 
tiful thus  brought  into  consciousness,  that  stirs  the 
emotions.  Here  is  miracle  indeed.  And  here  is 
divine  beneficence  beyond  apprisal. 

In  nature  God  speaks  to  men  chiefly  by  light  and 
sound,  by  color  and  tone.  All  the  arts  have  their 
highest  function  in  the  reciprocal  converse  be- 
tween God  and  man,  but  music  is  the  elect  art  of 
religion.  It  speaks  of  God,  from  God,  for  God, 
and  to  God.  "  The  most  religious  of  the  arts  of  ex- 
pression," Fiske   calls   it.     Few  have   been   more 


THE   RELIGIOUS  ART  255 

sensitive  to  the  ambassadorial  office  of  music  than 
Horace  Bushnell.  "  We  have,"  he  wrote, "  an  argu- 
ment for  God  more  impressive  in  one  view,  because 
the  matter  of  it  is  so  deep  and  mysterious,  from  the 
fact  that  a  grand,  harmonic,  soul-interpreting  law 
of  music  pervades  all  the  objects  of  the  natural  cre- 
ation, and  that  things  without  life,  all  metals  and 
woods  and  valleys  and  mountains  and  waters,  are 
tempered  with  distinctions  of  sound,  and  toned  to 
be  a  language  to  the  feeling  of  the  heart.  It  is  as 
if  God  had  made  the  world  about  us  to  be  a  grand 
organ  of  music,  so  that  our  feelings  might  have  play 
in  it,  as  our  understanding  has  in  the  light  of 
the  sun,  and  the  outward  colors  and  forms  of 
things." 

Madame  de  Stael  carries  the  same  thought  into 
the  inner  world  of  man's  spiritual  life :  "  Of  all  the 
fine  arts  it  is  this  which  acts  most  directly  upon 
the  soul.  The  others  lead  it  toward  this  or  that 
idea ;  this  alone  appeals  to  the  inmost  source  of 
existence,  and  changes  entirely  the  interior  disposi- 
tion. What  has  been  said  of  divine  grace,  which 
instantly  changes  hearts,  can,  humanly  speaking,  be 
applied   to   melody."     The  other  arts  ipaterialize 


256  GODANDMUSIC 

the  spiritual ;  music  spiritualizes  the  material,  and 
is  thus  a  congenial  agency  for  the  divine  Spirit  in 
his  work  for  human  perfecting. 

Like  other  widely  seeing  minds,  Max  MUller  felt 
that  in  the  art  he  loved  with  lifelong  devotion  there 
is  a  spiritual  element,  which  reports  an  origin  above 
the  merely  human.  His  latest  thought  upon  the 
subject  is  given  in  these  suggestive  words  :  "  Is 
there  not  in  music,  and  in  music  alone  of  all  the 
arts,  something  that  is  not  entirely  of  this  earth  ? 
Harmony  and  rhythm  may  be  under  settled  laws, 
and  in  that  sense  mathematicians  may  be  right 
when  they  call  mathematics  silent  music.  But 
whence  comes  melody  ?  Surely  not  from  what  we 
hear  in  the  street,  or  in  the  woods,  or  on  the  sea- 
shore ;  not  from  anything  that  we  hear  with  our 
outward  ears,  and  are  able  to  imitate,  to  improve, 
or  to  sublimize.  Neither  history  nor  evolution  will 
help  us  to  account  for  Schubert's  *Trocktie B lumen' 
Here,  if  anywhere,  we  see  the  golden  stairs  on 
which  angels  descend  from  heaven  to  earth,  and 
whisper  sweet  sounds  into  the  ears  of  those  who 
have  ears  to  hear.  Words  cannot  be  so  inspired, 
for  words,   we  know,   are    of   the    earth   earthy. 


UNiV 

THE   RELIGIOUS  ART  257 

Melodies,  however,  are  not  of  this  earth,  and  the 
greatest  of  musical  poets  has  truly  said, 

*  Heard  melodies  are  sweet,  but  those  unheard  are  sweeter.' " 

The  history  of  religion  and  the  history  of  music 
are  inseparable.  If  animism  and  fetichism  were 
the  first  steps  in  man's  converse  with  invisible 
spirit,  his  inchoate  religion  was  generated  and  ex- 
pressed by  rude  musical  sounds.  His  elementary 
worship  was  first  of  the  supposed  indwelling  spirit 
revealed  by  the  tones  of  drum  or  bell  or  beaten 
sticks  and  stones ;  then  it  became  worship  of  the 
sonorous  object  itself.  Possibly  Matheson's  sug- 
gestion is  also  worth  considering,  that  the  con- 
tinued existence  of  the  thing  worshipped,  were  it 
only  a  rag,  in  contrast  with  man's  seemingly  brief 
life,  gave  earhest  hint  of  immortality,  and  so,  in 
time,  led  to  the  idea  of  deathless  deity. 

All  races  have  worshipped  their  gods  by  musical 
offerings  thought  to  be  pleasing  to  celestial  ears. 
The  pictured  harp  on  the  wall  of  a  tomb  at  Thebes 
shows  a  certain  degree  of  musical  knowledge  at  a 
time  when  all  art  was  religious.  The  inferior  gods 
of  India  were  believed  to  have  originated  the  other 


258  GOD   AND   MUSIC 

arts,  but  Brahma  himself  gave  music  to  men.  The 
Vedic  hymns  were  chants  sung  at  sacrifices  to  the 
nature  gods  of  the  Indian  Aryans.  They  were 
especially  part  of  the  sunrise  worship  of  house- 
holds around  the  literal  family  altar.  The  Apollo 
legends  and  the  Orphic  hymns  give  evidence  of 
the  religious  origin  of  the  musical  cult  in  Greece. 
The  hymns  to  the  gods,  accompanied  by  the  lyre, 
were  the  root  of  Greek  literary  art  expression. 
The  poetry,  drama,  sculpture,  and  painting  of  later 
days  were  the  efflorescence  of  this  early  musical 
worship  of  the  gods  of  Hellas.  In  other  lands,  a 
similar  course  of  artistic  development  followed  a 
similar  initiative. 

The  Bible  story  of  human  beginnings  ascribes 
instrumental  music  to  the  inventive  artistic  taste  of 
the  Cainite  clan.  This  may  intimate  that  vocal 
music  was  the  preferred  medium  by  which  the 
Sethite  tribe  worshiped  Elohim.  Sacrifices  were 
central  in  the  rehgious  rites  of  nomadic  and  pas- 
toral peoples,  but  around  them  grew  up  among  the 
Hebrews  a  musical  ritual.  Miriam  was  not  the 
only  one  who  brought  the  music  of  Egypt  into  the 
wilderness  on  the  great  trek  of  the  Israelite  slaves. 


/i') 


THE   RELIGIOUS  ART  259 

The  other  arts  that  had  been  learned  in  the  land  of 
their  bondage,  served  to  build  and  adorn  the  taber- 
nacle, but  music  was  the  permanent  medium  of 
their  worship,  the  solace  of  their  wanderings,  and 
the  source  of  refining  culture  during  years  of 
struggle  with  hardships  and  desert  foes.  The 
priests  and  Levites  had  charge  of  the  music  of  the 
moving  sanctuary.  The  art  remained  in  a  rudi- 
mentary stage  till  the  tribes  became  settled  in  their 
future  home.  When  the  ark  was  brought  to 
Jerusalem,  the  Levites  were  prepared  to  celebrate 
the  great  event  "  with  instruments  of  music, 
psalteries  and  harps  and  cymbals,  sounding  aloud 
and  hfting  up  the  voice  with  joy."  After  the 
building  of  the  temple  this  tribe  furnished  a  per- 
manent choir  and  orchestra  of  four  thousand  mem- 
bers, ready  at  all  times  to  lead  the  praises  of  the 
people.  The  name  of  King  David  represents  a 
long  line  of  psalmists  who  wrote  the  sacred  songs 
of  the  nation.  "  All  the  music  of  the  human  heart 
is  in  the  Psalms,"  Gladstone  said,  and  these,  per- 
haps, had  more  to  do  with  shaping  the  national  char- 
acter than  had  all  its  kings  and  priests.  If  David 
had  written  a  doctrinal  treatise   instead  of   some 


26o  GODANDMUSIC 

of  the  favorite  religious  lyrics  of  his  people  and 
their  descendants,  his  name  might  never  have  come 
down  to  us,  Judaism  might  not  have  survived 
its  birth  period  if  it  had  not  been  a  singing  re- 
ligion. 

More  than  any  other  class,  the  prophets  of 
Israel  and  Judah  embodied  and  preserved  the  na- 
tional faith.  Prophecy  and  music  were  indissolu- 
bly  wedded.  The  schools  of  the  prophets  were 
schools  of  music.  Why  should  Jehovah  choose 
this  method  of  imparting  the  most  important  truths 
of  religion,  not  only  to  the  chosen  people  but  also 
for  the  whole  world  in  all  after  ages,  unless  there  is 
in  music  something  akin  to  the  nature  of  truth,  and 
to  the  divine  nature  ? 

Sacred  song  and  sacrifice  continued  to  be  the 
mediums  of  Jewish  worship  while  the  temple  stood. 
Christianity  was  born  to  the  strains  of  celestial  an- 
thems, and  at  first  worshipped  around  the  national 
altars  with  the  hereditary  ritual.  Jesus  and  his  fol- 
lowers doubtless  often  sang  together,  although  it  is 
not  necessary  to  infer  with  Bettina  that  he  was  a 
great  musician.  At  the  climax  of  his  mission  on 
earth,  "  when  they  had  sung  a  hymn,  they  went 


THE   RELIGIOUS  ART  261 

out,"  he  to  the  great  sacrifice,  his  disciples  to  begin 
the  task  of  the  world's  conversion. 

Christianity  redeemed  the  music  of  the  classic 
and  pagan  world.  Barbarians  were  won  and  trans- 
formed by  the  sound  of  Christian  hymns.  The 
conversion  of  the  Slavonic  peoples  has  been  attrib- 
uted to  the  sacred  melodies  of  the  Church  of  Con- 
stantinople. The  Saxon  English  were  so  devoted 
to  their  folk-song  tunes  that  the  churchmen  often 
sang  them  to  attract  the  public  to  their  services. 
After  the  Norman  settlement,  sacred  words  were 
frequently  set  to  secular  tunes.  This  led  to  part- 
singing,  or  descant,  and  this  to  counterpoint  Har- 
mony was  the  offspring  of  religious  music,  and 
became  the  prophetic  symbol  of  redeemed  Hu- 
manity. 

The  Reformation  brought  with  it  an  era  of  relig. 
ious  hymnody  for  the  people.  Luther  was  the  first 
for  long  centuries  to  write  sacred  lyrics  in  the 
popular  tongue.  Music  once  restored  him  from  a 
swoon  in  his  cell,  and  through  him  it  helped 
awaken  Europe  from  religious  stupor.  The  Re- 
formed doctrines  sang  their  way  through  the  na- 
tions.    The  history  of  evangelical  music  is  a  story 


262  GODANDMUSIC 

of  evangelistic  triumphs  in  later  times.  The  power 
of  Gospel  truth,  and  the  dignity  of  worship  in  mod- 
ern religious  history,  are  largely  due  to  the  varied 
development  of  religious  music.  Marred  and  lim- 
ited by  many  imperfections  of  spirit,  art,  and  use, 
the  service  of  Christian  song  and  the  consecration 
to  it  of  so  many  musically  gifted  servants  of  Christ 
and  art  furnish  no  small  part  of  the  "  live  force  " 
of  Christianity  in  the  present  day. 

The  devotion  of  their  powers  to  the  service  of 
religion  by  some  of  the  foremost  composers  of 
modern  times  is  another  intimation  of  the  high 
source  of  the  best  music.  Haydn's  frequent  "  In 
nomine  Domini "  and  "  Laus  Deo "  noted  on  his 
manuscript  works  showed  the  deep  religious  feeling 
with  which  he  wrote  his  noblest  compositions. 
Beethoven  did  not  often  speak  of  his  religious 
emotions,  but  manifested  the  true  Christian  spirit 
in  his  character  and  constant  benevolences.  Like 
Mozart,  the  great  composer  whom  Sidney  Lanier 
calls  "  Sole  Hymner  of  the  whole  of  life,"  he  looked 
forward  to  death  with  content  and  hope,  wishing 
toward  the  end  "  that  he  might  breathe  his  last  on 
Good  Friday,  in  hopes  of  meeting  his  good  God, 


THE   RELIGIOUS  ART  263 

his  sweet  Lord  and  Saviour,  on  the  day  of  his 
resurrection."  ••  Nothing  can  be  more  sublime,"  he 
wrote,  "  than  to  draw  nearer  to  the  Godhead  than 
other  men,  and  to  diffuse  here  on  earth  these  god- 
like rays  among  mortals.  But  what  is  all  this  com- 
pared to  the  grandest  of  all  Masters  of  harmony — 
above,  above ! " 

A  Parisian  journalist  insinuated  that  the  Requiem 
by  Verdi  was  not  to  be  taken  seriously  as  indicat- 
ing genuine  faith  in  the  Last  Judgment.  "  I  do 
take  it  seriously,"  he  answered,  "  as  I  take  all  my 
religion.  I  cannot  understand  how  it  is  possible 
for  an  artist  or^_poet Jlq  be  without  religion.  The 
most  beautiful  master  works  have  been  inspired  by 
Christianity.  Neither  Raphael  nor  Angelo,  neither 
Palestrina  nor  Mozart  would  have  been  what  they 
were  without  strong  religious  convictions.  If  my 
Requiem  has  power  and  worth  it  is  because  it  is 
the  work  of  a  believer."  This  testimony  is  verifia- 
ble by  the  best  biography  of  art.*     It  may  well  be 

' "  If  we  turn  for  a  moment  from  the  world  of  executants  to  the 
world  of  composers,  one  fact  must  strike  us — that  not  only  were 
the  great  composers,  as  a  rule,  not  addicted  to  the  excesses  which 
some  would  have  us  believe  inseparable  from  a  musical  tempera- 
ment, but  they  appear  to  have  been  singularly  free  from  them.     It 


264  GODANDMUSIC 

heeded  by  those  who  are  tempted  to  take  a  ma- 
terialistic view  of  either  ethics  or  aesthetics. 

Mazzini's  earnest  advice  to  young  musicians,  if 
regarded  by  them,  would  tend  to  secure  the  highest 
artistic  success  and  also  the  true  end  of  living. 
The  Itahan  patriot  and  philosophic  statesman 
wrote  to  such :  "  The  art  you  cultivate  is  holy, 
and  you  must  render  your  lives  holy,  if  you  would 
be  its  priests.  The  art  intrusted  to  your  ministry 
is  closely  bound  up  with  the  progress  of  civiliza- 
tion, and  may  become  the  very  breath,  soul,  and 
sacred  incense  of  that  civilization.  Music  is  the 
harmonious  voice  of  creation,  an  echo  of  the  in- 
visible world,  one  note  of  the  divine  concord 
which  the  entire  universe  is  some  day  to  sound. 
How  can  you  hope  to  seize  that  note  if  not  by 
elevating  your  minds  to  the  contemplation  of  the 
universe,  viewing  with  the  eye  of  faith  things  in- 
visible to  the  unbelieving,  and  compassing  the 
whole  creation  in  your  study  and  affection  ?  " 

is  noteworthy  that  so  many  great  composers  have  been  men  whose 
emotions  were  so  severely  disciplined,  and  whose  lives  were  so 
well  regulated,  that  they  stand  out  as  examples  not  only  of  steady 
and  indefatigable  workers,  but  also  of  high-minded  and  even  relig- 
ious men." — H.  R.  Haweis  ;  "  Music  and  Morals,"  p.  81. 


THE   RELIGIOUS  ART  265 

An  art  which  is  interwoven  with  the  very  warp 
of  the  cosmos,  which  is  one  of  the  most  distinctive 
proofs  of  the  Creator's  beneficent  wisdom,  which 
appeals  to  the  spiritual  nature  in  man,  and  fur- 
nishes wings  to  the  soul  in  its  upward  approach 
to  God,  has  clear  theistic  implications.  It  in- 
dicates an  artistic  Mind  at  the  source  of  all 
things.  The  joy-giving  potencies  of  music  are 
such  a  provision  as  a  kindly  Father  would  make  for 
his  children,  sharing  with  them  his  own  delight 
in  it. 

Some  direct  means  of  spiritual  expression  and  of 
communion  between  the  Infinite  and  created  spirits 
is  especially  needed  in  a  universe  that  so  over- 
whelmingly impresses  the  senses.  The  religious 
history  of  music  declares  it  eminently  fit  for  this 
double  use.  Like  all  best  things,  this  divine  art 
may  easily  be  perverted  and  degraded,  but  when 
employed  for  spiritual  ends  it  has  never  failed  to 
elevate  the  mind  above  crass  materialism,  and  aid 
the  seeker  after  God  to  draw  near  him.  Music 
comes  with  a  universal  and  easily  comprehended 
appeal  for  faith  and  adoration  toward  the  Artist 
God.     It  also  brings  a  solemn  charge  to  hold  it 


266  GODANDMUSIC 

sacred  in  all  its  forms  for  the  higher  needs  of  men, 
"  meet  for  the  Master's  use." 

"  Charles  Auchester "  voices  this  obligation  in 
words  as  true  as  tenderly  devout :  "  It  is  not  that 
anything  we  can  offer  can  be  worthy  of  the  feet  at 
which  we  lay  it :  it  is  not  that  anything  is  sweet  or 
sufficient  for  our  love's  expression  ;  but  every  little 
word  of  love,  or  smile  of  love,  is  precious  to  us, 
and  must  be  so  to  Love  itself,  I  think.  Only  in 
music  does  God  now  reveal  himself  as  in  days  of 
old,  and  I  do  believe  that  he,  dwelling  not  in 
temples  made  with  hands,  yet  dwelleth  there.  I 
suppose  that  as  we  make  the  music  that  issues  from 
the  orchestra,  or  from  the  organ  where  all  musics 
mingle,  so  he  makes  the  love  that  Religion  burns  to 
utter,  but  that  Music,  for  the  musical,  alone  makes 
manifest.  All  worship  is  sacred,  but  that  is  unut- 
terably holy.  How  holy  should  the  heart  of  the 
musician  be  !  "  Whoever  makes  his  art  work  the 
incense  of  a  life  devoted  in  everything  to  the  Holy 
One,  of  him  it  may  be  said, 

"  His  song  was  only  living  aloud." 

Music,  in  fine,  seems  to  be  a  force  of  spiritual 


THE   RELIGIOUS  ART  267 

telegraphy  between  the  spirit  in  man  and  the  Parent 
Spirit  of  the  universe.  To  secure  its  true  effect, 
there  must  be  spiritual  syntony,  the  receiver  being 
attuned  to  the  Sender,  that  he  may  catch  the  mes- 
sage intended  for  the  individual  soul,  but  which  is 
unperceived  by  all  who  are  out  of  unison  with  the 
divine. 


k 


MUSIC  AND  IMMORTALITY 


"  While  we  hear 
The  tides  of  music's  golden  sea 
Setting  toward  eternity, 
Uplifted  high  in  heart  and  hope  are  we, 
Until  we  doubt  not  that  for  one  so  true 
There  must  be  other  nobler  work  to  do." 

— Tennyson. 

"  There  is  music  in  heaven  because  there  is  no  self-will.  Music 
goes  on  certain  laws  and  rules.  Man  did  not  make  the  laws  of 
music :  he  only  found  them  out,  and,  if  he  be  self-willed  and  break 
them,  there  is  an  end  of  music  instantly;  all  he  brings  out  is  dis- 
cord and  ugly  sounds.  Music  is  fit  for  heaven.  Music  is  a  pattern 
and  type  of  heaven,  and  of  the  everlasting  life  of  God  which  per- 
fect spirits  live  in  heaven ;  a  life  of  melody  and  order  in  them- 
selves; a  life  in  harmony  with  each  other  and  with  God."— 
Charles  Kingsley. 


h 


CHAPTER  XIV 

MUSIC   AND    IMMORTAUTY 

Music  is  like  human  life  in  that  it  vanishes  with 
the  conscious  moment ;  "  its  living  is  its  dying." 
The  evanescence  of  music  has  always  tinged  the 
enjoyment  of  it  with  a  shade  of  melancholy.  In 
so  impermanent  a  fact  can  there  be  valid  indication 
of  an  endless  duration  of  the  life  of  man,  which 
seems  almost  as  transitory  ?  Fleeting  as  its  audible 
forms  always  are,  there  is,  nevertheless,  in  the 
cosmic  reality  of  musical  sound,  and  in  the  possi- 
bility of  its  endless  repetition  in  a  practically  infinite 
variety  of  form,  strong  reinforcement  for  the  long- 
ing beUef  of  men  in  all  ages  that  human  Ufe  on 
earth  is  but  the  beginning  of  their  existence.  In 
the  timeless  freedom  of  eternity  the  sadness  of  per- 
ishing joys  must  pass  away,  like  the  icy  brilliance 
of  a  wintry  sleet-storm  when  the  warm  sun  has 
gently  freed  every  branch  of  burdened  tree  and  im- 
prisoned shrub  from  its  transient  investment  of 
271 


272  GOD   AND    MUSIC 

beauty.  Even  as  we  look,  it  perishes ;  but  spring 
comes  on,  and  a  new  life  soon  leaps  to  the  tip  of 
every  twig,  and  swells  each  bud  with  the  promise  of 
an  enrobing  more  beautiful  and  enduring.  The 
melting  wreck  of  an  hour's  radiance  feeds  the  soil 
from  which  the  current  of  a  fresh  life  is  drawn.  So, 
it  may  be,  the  very  loss  of  present  sweetness  and 
delight  ministered  by  music  for  the  passing  mo- 
ment, is  a  laying  up  of  impressions,  emotions, 
hopes,  and  aspirations  that  can  be  realized  to  per- 
fection only  in  an  enduring  state,  toward  which  the 
heart  turns  with  all  the  more  longing  and  purpose 
because  the  past  is  gone  forever.  The  incomplete- 
ness and  fleetingness  of  the  joy  which  music 
brings,  constrain  the  forward  look  of  the  soul  to  a 
world  where  the  best  things  do  not  perish  in  the 
instant  of  their  enjoyment. 

The  shaping  tendency  in  nature  is  toward  a  com- 
plete embodiment  of  ideal  perfection.  To  this 
gravitating  trend  of  things  in  our  universe  both 
evolution  and  revelation  bear  witness.  The  increas- 
ing effort  of  nature  has  been  to  express  some  defi- 
nite thought  or  plan,  or  that  which  has  every 
appearance  of  being  such.     Absolute  perfectness  is 


MUSIC  AND  IMMORTALITY      273 

scidom,  if  ever,  attained  in  the  natural  order,  but  the 
general  course  of  evolution  points  steadily  toward  it. 
To  quote  again  from  Professor  Fiske's  last  book,  this 
conclusion  is  strongly  stated  :  "  Toward  the  spirit- 
ual perfection  of  Humanity  the  stupendous  mo- 
mentum of  the  cosmic  process  has  all  along  been 
tending  ...  as  the  true  goal  of  evolution,  the 
divine  end  that  was  involved  from  the  beginning." 

This  tendency  has  exerted  unmistakable  in- 
fluence over  human  history.  Mankind  has  been 
caught  in  its  spiral  advance.  The  race  as  a  whole 
has  shared  the  upward  impulse.  Hence  art  and  all 
human  progress.  The  genius  of  ideal  beauty  ever 
beckons  men  with  irresistible  charm.  Hear  Plato : 
"  O  my  dear  Socrates,  that  which  can  give  value  to 
this  life  is  the  spectacle  of  eternal  beauty.  What 
would  be  the  destiny  of  a  mortal  to  whom  it  should 
be  granted  to  contemplate  the  beautiful  without 
alloy,  in  its  purity  and  simplicity, — no  longer 
clothed  with  the  flesh  and  hues  of  humanity,  and 
with  all  those  vain  charms  that  are  condemned  to 
perish, — to  whom  it  should  be  given  to  see  face  to 
face  the  divine  beauty !  " 

The  glimpses  of  perfection  which  man,  as  man. 


274  GODANDMUSIC 

at  times  beholds,  which  are  the  more  alluring  as 
the  soul  rises  nearer  to  it,  have  a  twofold  effect. 
The  contrast  of  the  actual  with  the  ideal  shows 
only  too  sharply  the  incompleteness  of  the  best 
attainments  of  mortals  here;  yet  it  awakens  a 
sense  of  powers  undeveloped,  and  gives  keen  edge 
to  the  hunger  for  ideal  good. 

Present  imperfection  is  a  necessity  of  unfinished 
evolution,  but  largely  also  it  is  the  result  of  moral 
sluggishness  and  the  misuse  of  privilege.  That  the 
imperfect  should  continue  such  forever,  is  by  no 
means  inevitable.  Rather  is  it  to  healthy  minds  a 
goad  to  spur  on  toward  the  perfect.  If  the  good 
is  too  often  the  enemy  of  the  best,  fair  ideals  are 
yet  true  friends  of  the  imperfect.  They  arouse 
and  stimulate  the  slumberous  soul.  Salvation  is 
arousal.  Heaven  is  opportunity.  Eternal  life  is 
endless  possibility.  Of  this  brighter  side  of  human 
incompleteness  the  nature  and  scope  of  music  offer 
encouraging  evidence.  The  art  is  in  its  infancy, 
the  science  far  from  finished.  The  momentum  of 
the  whole  creation  toward  the  complete,  which 
Newman  Smyth  presents  as  a  valid  argument  for 
immortality,  strongly    indicates    the    future    pro- 


h 


MUSIC  AND   IMMORTALITY      275 

gressive  perfecting  of  both  music  and  the  power 
to  utilize  and  enjoy  it. 

The  highest  attainments  in  this  art  are  but  tide- 
marks  showing  limitations  as  well  as  achievements. 
Art  is  limitless;  hfe  at  the  longest  is  too  short 
to  master  perfectly  any  branch  of  it  In  this 
"  terrestrial  imbecility "  few  become  more  than 
journeymen  in  the  use  of  any  sense  or  faculty. 
Like  Newton  and  Darwin,  whose  total  of  learning 
and  discovery  seemed  to  them  as  a  few  pebbles 
gathered  on  the  sea-beach  of  boundless  truth, 
Beethoven  felt  that  he  had  but  touched  the  fringe 
of  musical  possibility.  "  I  feel,"  he  said,  "  as 
though  I  had  written  scarcely  more  than  a  few 
notes."  Every  composer  of  original  ability  strikes 
out  a  new  path  through  untravelled  regions  of  ac- 
cordant sound.  Finer  senses  and  deeper  under- 
standing will  give  musicians  new  worlds  of  melody 
and  harmony  to  conquer. 

Between  the  four  hundred  vibrations  per  second 
of  a  high  tenor  note,  or  the  two  thousand  and 
forty-eight  of  the  highest  soprano  on  record,  and 
the  four  hundred  xniBiens  of  a  definite  red  in  the 
spectrum,  there  is  space,  it  is  estimated,  for  twenty 


2/6  GOD   AND   MUSIC 

senses,  each  equal  in  range  to  those  we  now 
possess.  Where  in  this  vast  unknown  of  ethereal 
vibration  the  dividing  line  runs  between  the  sense 
of  possible  hearing  and  that  of  potential  sight  is 
beyond  knowledge.  Prof.  Benjamin  Peirce  in  that 
inspiring  book,  "  Ideality  in  the  Physical  Sciences," 
says,  "  That  the  immense  extent  of  unheard  and 
unseen  vibrations  with  which  the  universe  is  palpi- 
tating should  never  become  available  to  the  soul,  is 
contrary  to  the  analogies  of  Nature.  It  is  far  from 
unreasonable  to  suppose  that  there  will  be  a  corre- 
sponding variety  of  ways  of  knowledge,  and  of  op- 
portunities for  scientific  study,  for  the  development 
of  strange  inventions,  for  reinforcing  the  sense,  and 
for  the  creation  of  wonderful,  grand,  and  lovely 
forms  of  fancy  and  imagination."  Henry  Ward 
Beecher  supposed  an  instrument  which  would  do 
for  the  ear  what  the  microscope  does  for  the  eye, 
and  exclaimed,  "  If  an  auriscope  could  be  invented, 
we  might  go  forth  into  a  world  as  new  as  that 
opened  to  a  short-sighted  person  when  he  first  puts 
on  near-sighted  glasses. "-j(  Carrying  the  thought 
farther,  Tyndall  imagined  that  "  the  air  about  us 
may    be    full    of    heaven's    hallelujahs,   while  we 


MUSIC   AND   IMMORTALITY      277 

hear  only  the  feeble  whispers  of  our  own 
prayers." 

It  did  not  burden  the  scientific  imagination  of 
the  learned  astronomer  just  quoted  to  suppose  that, 
'•  in  the  exquisite  organization  of  the  celestial  sub- 
stance, the  range  of  sensible  vibrations  may  be  in- 
creased immeasurably ;  and  the  ultimate  limits  to 
which  future  perception  and  education  may  ad- 
vance, is  possibly  a  mystery  transcending  the 
research  even  of  archangels."  Reviewing  the 
ideal  development  which  began  with  the  process 
postulated  by  the  nebular  theory,  he  concludes 
the  study  thus :  ••  It  is  not  a  tale  told  by  an  idiot, 
signifying  nothing.  It  is  the  poem  of  an  infinite 
imagination,  signifying  immortality." 

Science  and  revelation  alike  represent  as  possible 
a  more  perfect  and  enduring  incasement  for  the 
finite  spirit,  than  the  frail  framework  it  now  in- 
habits for  a  very  brief  span  of  years  on  earth. 
Wonderfully  made  as  the  human  body  is,  with  its 
organs  of  sight  and  hearing  so  admirably  fitted  to 
serve  the  inhabiting  spirit,  it  is  legitimate  to  con- 
ceive of  an  organism  with  all  its  senses  as  preter- 
naturally  acute  as  a  single  sense  is  found  in  ex- 


278  GODANDMUSIC 

ceptional  persons.  Other  avenues  between  the 
cosmos  without  and  the  microcosm  within  are  also 
conceivable.  The  human  frame  is  a  mechanism 
expressly  adjusted  to  convert  physical  energy  into 
psychical  force.  It  is  the  instrument  through  which 
the  indwelling  spirit  directly  communicates  with 
other  spirits.  Having  accomplished  its  special 
mission  in  the  present  stage  of  existence,  it  would 
be  according  to  the  analogies  of  organic  history 
that  the  individual  soul  should  organize  about  itself 
an  envelopment  fitted  for  a  more  perfectly  de- 
veloped state  to  which  the  present  is  but  pre- 
paratory. 

As  a  rational  and  artistic  personality,  man  is  the 
crowning  product  of  evolution.  The  human  race  is 
the  only  part  of  the  biologic  series  which  has  arrived 
at  anything  that  deserves  to  be  called  science  or 
art.  The  probability  is  infinitesimal  that  unguided 
evolution  could  attain  to  such  a  result,  out  of  the 
numberless  different  possibilities  of  progress  from 
undifferentiated  universe  stuff.  Taking  the  single 
problem  of  the  origin  of  music,  some  sort  of 
melodious   sound  might  be  imagined  as  an  acci- 


MUSIC  AND   IMMORTALITY      279 

dental  outcome  of  an  automatic  process  in  nature ; 
but  not  such  an  art,  such  a  science;  not  a  Beet- 
hoven, a  Wagner,  a  Paderewski.  Yet  in  every 
human  individual  are  faculties,  germinal  and  un. 
promising  though  they  often  seem,  which,  de- 
veloped  to  the  full,  would  equal  or  excel  those  of 
Mozart  or  Handel.  Wherefore  this  unlimited  range 
of  spiritual  potentiality,  if  there  is  to  be  no  rea- 
lization of  the  ideal  possibihties  of  human  na- 
ture? 

The  moral  factor,  it  is  true,  is  vital  and  dominant. 
If  the  individual  fails  to  eliminate  the  poison  of 
moral  evil,  it  may,  perhaps,  prove  the  ruin  of  the 
structural  elements  of  his  being.  But  that,  for  ex- 
ample, a  universe  of  artistic  beauty  could  be  de- 
veloped on  a  scale  practically  without  limit,  offering 
itself  to  a  growing  appreciation  also  apparently  with- 
out bound,  and  then  that  the  spiritual  beings  who 
alone  of  earth's  denizens  are  fitted  to  apprehend  and 
enjoy  it,  should  all  be  annihilated  in  the  primary 
stages  of  educated  ability  to  appreciate  it,  is  simply 
irrational,  and  would  be  unjust.  Strange  indeed  if 
a  song,  which  is  but  recorded  breath,  may  live  on 
for  ages,  while  the  mind  that  created  it  could  be 


28o  GODANDMUSIC 

snuffed  out  by  a  breath  of  bad  air,  poisoning  its 
bodily  casement! 

Is  it  not  more  reasonable  to  send  the  thought  in 
sure  flight  from  the  music  of  earth,  transitory  but 
full  of  an  immortal  stimulus  to  hope,  upward  to  its 
fitting  home  and  a  Hfe  undying?  Isaak  Walton 
found  in  the  nightingale's  song  not  only  exquisite 
pleasure  but  also  occasion  of  praise  in  anticipation 
of  the  far  sweeter  melodies  of  heaven.  His  de- 
licious meditation  carries  the  devout  soul  almost 
within  hearing  of  the  celestial  choirs,  "  But  the 
nightingale,  another  of  my  airy  creatures,  breathes 
such  sweet,  loud  music  out  of  her  Uttle  instrumental 
throat,  that  it  might  make  mankind  to  think  miracles 
are  not  ceased.  He  that  at  midnight,  when  the 
weary  laborer  sleeps  securely,  should  hear,  as  I  have 
very  often,  the  clear  airs,  the  sweet  descants,  the 
natural  rising  and  falling,  the  doubling  and  redoub- 
ling of  her  voice,  might  well  be  lifted  above  earth, 
and  say,  *  Lord,  what  music  hast  thou  provided  for 
the  saints  in  heaven,  when  thou  afifordest  bad  men 
such  music  on  earth ! ' " 

The  whole  course  of  evolutionary  history  shows 


MUSIC  AND   IMMORTALITY      281 

that  organs  and  faculties  have  developed  along  with 
environment.  Air  and  wings,  water  and  fins,  are 
correlates.  First  light,  then  the  eye.  The  visual 
sense  has  been  perfected  contemporaneously  with 
the  geologic  and  biologic  advance  of  nature  which 
would  furnish  objects  of  sight  for  nutritive,  de- 
fensive, and  aesthetic  purposes.  Likewise,  the 
auditory  apparatus  has  doubtless  kept  pace  with 
the  provisions  for  its  exercise.  That  environment 
has  had  a  leading  part  in  developing  the  organs  of 
sense,  and  even  the  intellectual  faculties,  matters 
not.  Evolution  is,  above  all  and  through  all,  a 
thought-process.  Immanent  design  is  latent  in- 
telligence, always  under  guidance.  It  depends  for 
realization  upon  a  power  not  its  own.  The  plain 
inference  is  that  the  same  intelligent,  directive 
agency  manifest  in  evolution  will  see  to  it  that 
potential  faculties  already  belonging  to  man  will 
develop  to  a  degree  surpassing  present  conception, 
in  response  to  environing  influences  of  a  higher  sort 
than  any  hitherto  experienced.  In  heaven  we  shall 
see,  hear,  and  know  as  we  are  seen,  heard,  and 
known  by  the  heavenly  ones  themselves. 

Organic  development  and  the  history  of  music 


282  GOD   AND   MUSIC 

are  alike  in  the  fact  that,  when  one  idea  or  stage  of 
progress  has  been  worked  out,  another  is  always 
taken  up,  and  continuity  is  lifted  to  a  higher  plane. 
The  unused  potencies  of  nature  immeasurably  ex- 
ceed the  bare  fringe  of  multiform  force  hitherto 
discovered  and  utilized.  Science  often  challenges 
increase  of  faith.  It  points  more  and  more  directly 
to  a  future  when  faculty  shall  overtake  potentiality, 
only  to  find  fresh  fields  of  development  and  oppor- 
tunity. The  vast  provision  in  the  universe  for  ar- 
tistic progress  has  not  been  made  for  no  sufficient 
purpose.  No  possible  advance  in  human  craft  or 
science  can  more  than  touch  its  nearest  border  in 
the  short  period  of  mortal  life.  Personal  immor- 
tality is  demanded  to  master  and  minister  the  re- 
sources of  infinite  beauty.  But  few  in  any  genera- 
tion, under  the  most  favoring  circumstances,  can 
make  even  a  beginning  in  the  culture  of  powers 
which  have  every  promise  of  exceeding  the  furthest 
reach  attained  by  the  highest  earthly  art. 

The  same  promise  belongs  to  every  faculty  and 
every  art.  The  territory  of  truth  open  before  the 
intellect  is  boundless,  and  the  scope  of  noble  action 
in  a  life  without  end  must  also  be  unlimited.     The 


MUSIC   AND   IMMORTALITY      283 

example  of  a  single  art,  the  one  most  universally 
enjoyed,  may  appeal  to  the  majority  of  minds  with 
illustrative  and  alluring  force.  As  the  most  spirit- 
ual of  all  the  forms  of  artistic  expression,  music  is 
most  prominent  of  all  in  Scriptural  references  to  the 
heavenly  state.  There  is  reason  for  this  in  the  na- 
ture and  conditions  of  the  art.  The  aged  Gounod, 
looking  forward  to  a  speedy  departure  from  the 
scenes  of  his  artistic  labors  and  triumphs,  dwelt 
much  upon  the  spiritualizing  influence  of  music, 
and  said,  "  It  gives  a  foretaste  of  the  immateriality 
of  the  future  hfe."  A  Persian  sage  expressed  the 
belief  entertained  by  the  best  among  his  people,  in 
this  way :  "  The  soul  purified  by  music  longs  for 
communion  with  higher  beings  and  purer  spheres ; 
and,  though  darkened  by  the  opaqueness  of  the 
body,  is  yet  prepared  for  converse  with  the  spirits 
of  light,  standing  around  the  throne  of  the  Al- 
mighty." The  vision  of  the  Christian  seer  was 
clearer  and  saw  deeper.  The  redeemed  are  those 
who  have  "  washed  their  robes  and  made  them 
white,"  not  by  the  refining  and  spiritualizing  influ- 
ence of  any  art  whatsoever,  but  "  in  the  blood  of 
the   Lamb."     With  the  motive  of  unmerited  re- 


284  GODANDMUSIC 

demption,  they  unitedly  lift  heart  and  voice  in  the 
Hallelujah  Chorus  of  heaven,  unto  him  who  loved 
them  and  gave  himself  for  them.  The  song  of 
praise  is  represented  as  the  only  adequate  vehicle 
of  adoring  gratitude  for  those  who  have  eternal 
reason  for  offering  the  highest  expression  of  their 
love  and  devotion. 

It  has  been  a  favorite  imagination  with  some  in 
ancient  and  in  modern  times,  that  music  will  fur- 
nish a  medium,  if  not  the  chief  means,  of  vocal  in- 
tercourse among  the  inhabitants  of  heaven.  A 
Christian  scholar  of  the  last  generation,  who  joined 
to  philosophic  insight  the  high  faith  and  hope  that 
make  the  next  life,  in  Lowell's  phrase,  the  nearest 
life,  expressed  this  thought  in  words  not  to  be 
changed :  "  There  is  a  fine  art  of  sound.  It  rests 
upon  this  fact  that  we  have  not  only  a  mortal  body, 
with  transient  wants,  in  the  supplying  of  which 
such  coarse  and  temporary  contrivances  as  arbitrary 
words  are  well  enough,  but  that  we  also  have  an 
enduring  spirit  with  lasting  emotions,  and  that 
these  emotions,  which  belong  to  the  nature  of 
spirit,  have  specific  sounds,  which  are  their  natural 


MUSIC  AND  IMMORTALITY      285 

expression.  And  here  arises  music,  the  eldest  if 
not  the  divinest  of  the  fine  arts.  Every  emotion 
of  the  intelligent  spirit  has  its  appropriate  intona- 
tion of  sound,  or  of  that  which  in  another  world 
may  take  the  place  of  sound.  These  intonations 
are  the  elements  of  music ;  and,  further,  the  har- 
monious flow  and  succession  of  emotions  in  a  pure 
spirit  should  express  itself  in  a  like  harmony  of 
sound,  rising  of  itself,  like  the  unconscious  voice  of 
the  harp  of  the  winds,  or  of  falling  waters ;  so  that 
it  may  be  that  in  a  better  land  the  emotions  of 
pure  spirit 

*  Toluntary  more 
Harmonious  numbers,' 

and  so  the  spirit  goes  spontaneously  singing  a  per- 
fect iEolian  strain  in  its  blessedness." 

This  certainly  must  be  true  in  a  future  life  con- 
tinuous with  the  intellectual  and  emotional  experi- 
ences of  the  present,  that  souls  will  still  be  organs 
of  feeling,  and  feeling  being  then  loftier  and 
finer  than  in  this  most  imperfect  state,  the  language 
of  feeling  must  be  finer  and  more  perfect.  Besides, 
as  Bushnell  argues,  "  what  is  the  joy  of  the  glorified 
but  the  joy  of  society ;  that  is,  of  feeling  expressed. 


286  GODANDMUSIC 

society  in  pure  and  great  feeling,  immediate,  spon- 
taneous, universal,  propagated,  of  course,  by  some 
fit  medium.  By  what  other,  unless  by  voices  of 
feeling  whose  speech  is  music,  voices  angelically 
tempered  by  inward  love  and  purity,  flowing  into 
choirs  of  harmony  and  improvised  anthems,  that  are 
but  the  ocean  beat  of  bosoms  conscious  of  God." 

Confucius  seemed  to  have  a  conception  of  such  a 
world,  when  he  named  heaven  the  "  House  of 
Hymns."  The  "  new  song  "  heard  by  the  Revela- 
tor  represents  the  hymnody  of  redemption  in  its  his- 
tory from  Moses  to  Jesus,  and  on  to  its  consumma- 
tion. Whatever  the  scale  or  tonal  scheme  of  that 
music,  it  will  be  the  outpouring  of  grateful,  adoring 
love,  uttered  in  melodious  forms  expressive  of  the 
highest  spiritual  emotions. 

The  heavenly  art  of  sound  is,  by  the  conditions  of 
the  heavenly  life,  the  expression  of  spiritual  har- 
mony. Music  we  have  found  to  be  eminently  the 
social  art;  polyphony  is  its  prophetic  type.  If 
melody  is  necessarily  individualistic,  harmony  is  the 
art-form  of  the  idea  of  Humanity,  significant  of  the 
all-including  synthesis   and  perfect  accord  of  the 


MUSIC  AND   IMMORTALITY      287 

entire  citizenship  in  the  Heavenly  republic.  "  Fel- 
lowship is  life's  last,  greatest,  and  immortal  word." 
Order  is  nature's  first  thought ;  but  mutual  service 
is  the  end  for  which  order  itself  exists.  The 
original  cell  divides  itself  by  a  law  that  conditions 
all  progress,  not  for  the  law's  sake,  but  for  the  sake 
of  multiplying  its  kind.  Soon  groups  of  cells  are 
found,  each  subserving  progress  and  the  common 
good.  When  organs  and  members  are  formed  by 
the  allied  efforts  of  the  multitudinous  living  atoms 
that  preceded  them,  every  component  cell  and 
every  organ  and  member  are  found  laboring  for 
the  others  and  for  the  composite  whole.  Rising 
higher  in  the  scale  of  life,  the  common  law  of  the 
kingdom  of  nature  and  of  grace  is  that  no  man 
liveth  or  dieth  to  himself  alone.  The  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  simply  the  full  development  and  fruition 
of  this  principle.  The  art  of  music  is  its  aesthetic 
embodiment. 

Two  voices  must  agree  in  their  relative  vibration 
numbers,  or  dissonance  is  the  acoustic  crime  of  one 
or  both.  The  musician  always  thinks  of  others ;  of 
composer,  fellow-musicians,  listeners,  and  even  the 
unmusical.      When    many   voices   or   instruments 


288  GODANDMUSIC 

sound  together,  every  singer  or  performer  is  sen- 
sitively attent  to  every  other,  consciously  or  un- 
consciously. If  his  first  thought  is  necessarily  for 
his  own  notes,  it  is  lest  they  fail  in  relative  accuracy 
or  in  sympathy.  The  two  great  commandments  of 
executive  harmony  are  counterparts  of  those  given 
by  the  Master  to  cover  all  duty.  The  individual 
member  of  orchestra  or  chorus  must  above  all  else 
heed  the  regnant  tonic,  so  that  key  and  pitch  shall 
be  rightly  taken  and  kept;  and  then  he  must  pay 
constant  regard  to  the  acoustic  and  aesthetic  tone  of 
accompanying  voices  and  instruments,  even  as  he 
would  that  the  others  should  regard  his  own.  The 
double  law  is  imperative :  Follow  the  leader's 
baton  with  all  the  mind,  and  keep  in  touch  each 
with  his  neighbor,  as  he  would  have  his  neighbor 
do  to  him.  The  heavenly  choirs  and  orchestras  are 
in  absolute  harmony  because  they  perfectly  obey 
this  twofold  law  with  all  the  heart. 

Discord  is  musical  sin ;  sin  is  moral  discord. 
Self-love  is  the  anti-social  violation  of  the  musical 
principle  fundamental  in  ethics.  The  only  excuse 
for  either  acoustical  or  moral  dissonance  is  that,  by 
reason  of  the  very  distress  it  occasions  to  ear,  mind, 


MUSIC   AND  IMMORTALITY      289 

or  heart,  the  longing  to  return  to  the  calm  current 
of  pure  consonance,  is  heightened.  An  expectant 
discord,  "  dear  to  the  musician,"  has  this  effect,  be- 
cause the  ear  and  mind  naturally  desire  to  rest 
upon  agreeable  impressions.  This  is  an  aesthetic 
reason,  for  nothing  in  nature  requires  the  resolution 
of  a  discord.  False  ratios  of  vibration  numbers 
never  cure  themselves.  A  musical  will  must  inter- 
pose and  restore  the  missing  accord.  Sin,  we  may 
believe,  is  expectant  moral  discord  which  by  free 
and  accepted  grace  can  be  fully  resolved  and 
atoned — at-oned — in  the  harmony  of  the  heavenly 
life.  Grace  can  do  what  nature  cannot.  The 
divine  reconciliation  of  the  sinner  is  the  ethical  res- 
olution of  his  moral  dissonances. 


"  Therefore,  to  whom  turn  I  but  to  thee,  the  ineffable  Name? 
Builder  and  Maker,  thou,  of  houses  not  made  with  hands ! 
What  I  have  fear  of  change  from  thee  who  art  ever  the  same  ? 
Doubt  that  thy  power  can  fill  the  heart  that  thy  power  ex- 
pands? 
There  shall  never  be  one  lost  good !     What  was,  shall  live  as 
before. 
The  evil  is  null,  is  nought,  is  silence  implying  sound ; 
What  was  good,  shall  be  good,  with,  for  evil,  so  much  good 
more; 
On  earth  the  broken  arcs  ;  in  the  heaven,  a  perfect  round. 


290  GODANDMUSIC 

"  Why  else  was  the  pause  prolonged,  but  that  singing  might  issue 
thence  ? 
Why  rushed  the  discords  in,  but  that  harmony  should  be  prized  ? 
'Tis  we  musicians  know. 


The  harmonies  of  heaven,  as  an  ideally  perfect 
state,  are  first  spiritual,  then  social,  then  aesthetic. 
Its  music  realizes  the  ground  law  of  ideal  society : 
Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself.  Its  lo- 
cahty,  whether  on  a  renovated  earth,  or  in  some 
other  sphere,  cannot  matter  if  holy,  altruistic  love 
rules  there.  The  accord  of  the  hundred  and  forty- 
four  thousand  voices — number  of  universality — in 
the  vision-anthem  of  St.  John,  prophesies  not  more 
the  sublime  harmony  of  universal  praise  offered  by 
all  the  inhabitants  of  heaven  to  their  God  and 
Saviour,  than  it  does  the  absolute  unity  and  mutual 
regard  that  bind  them  together  in  the  eternal  king- 
dom of  love. 


THE    GOD    OF    MUSIC 


IVaise  ye  the  LORD. 

Praise  GOD  in  his  sanctuary  : 

Praise  him  in  the  firmament  of  his  power. 

Praise  him  for  his  mighty  acts  : 

Praise  him  according  to  his  excellent  greatness. 

Praise  him  with  the  sound  of  the  trumpet : 

Praise  him  with  the  psaltery  and  harp. 

Let  everything  that  hath  breath  praise  the  LORD. 

Praise  ye  the  LORD. 


"  God  in  his  totality  as  the  Absolute  Being  is  conscious,  not  in 
time,  but  of  time,  and  of  all  that  infinite  time  contains.  In  time 
there  follow,  in  their  sequence,  the  chords  of  his  endless  symphony. 
For  him  is  this  whole  symphony  of  life  at  once. 

"For  as,  even  in  the  finite  symphony,  every  chord  restlessly 
strives  after  a  musical  perfection  that  in  itself  it  only  hints,  but  as 
nevertheless  this  very  perfection  is  in  the  whole  symphony  itself — 
so  in  the  universe,  every  temporal  instant  contains  a  seeking  after 
God's  perfection.  Yet,  never  at  any  instant  of  time  is  this  per- 
fection attained.  It  is  present  only  to  the  consciousness  that  views 
the  infinite  totality  of  this  very  process  of  seeking." — Josiah 

ROYCE. 


h 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE  GOD  OF  MUSIC 

To  the  question,  Whence  this  world  and  the 
universe  of  which  it  is  an  almost  infinitesimal  part  ? 
music,  as  an  elemental  and  spiritual  art,  gives  an- 
swer : — From  God.  To  the  more  momentous  ques- 
tion for  individual  men,  Who  and  What  is  God? 
music  again  makes  reply  : — The  one  almighty  and 
all-wise  Creator,  Lover  of  beauty  and  of  man, 
whose  laws  are  harmony,  and  whose  life  it  is  to 
bless.  The  theistic  argument  from  the  musical 
point  of  view  is  a  valuable  contribution  to  the 
general  discussion  as  to  the  being  and  character  of 
God.  It  will  have  cogency  according  to  the  scien- 
tific knowledge,  musical  understanding,  mental 
habit,  and  religious  attitude  of  each  person. 

Speaking  with  authority,  both  as  logician  and  as 

apostle,  St.  Paul  affirmed  that  "  the  invisible  things 

of  him  since  the  creation  of  the  cosmos  are  clearly 

seen,  being  perceived  through  the  things  that  are 

made,  even   his   everlasting  power  and  divinity," 
293 


Z94  GODANDMUSIC 

The  quantitative  evidence  for  an  almighty  Maker 
and  Ruler  of  the  universe  has  always  first  and  most 
strongly  impressed  the  human  mind,  when  man  has 
faced  the  overwhelming  physical  power  at  work  in 
nature.  Afterward  men  have  found  that  the  per- 
sonal quality  of  the  Supreme  Energy  is  the  im- 
mensely more  weighty  element  in  the  theistic  prob- 
lem. The  contribution  which  the  art  of  viewless 
sound  makes  to  the  perception  of  the  invisible 
divinity  of  the  Author  of  all  perfect  beauty,  is 
directly  in  point.  The  testimony  it  gives  to  the 
scientific,  moral,  and  aesthetic  attributes  of  the 
Being  who  is  the  one  divine  Source  of  mani- 
fold beauty  and  the  universal  blessing  it  brings, 
should  be  peculiarly  persuasive.  A  summing  up 
of  some  of  the  chief  aspects  of  evidence  which 
may  be  gathered  from  this  cosmic  fact  and  the 
art  springing  from  it,  may  aid  toward  a  true  con- 
ception of  the  character  discoverable  in  "  the 
Eternal  Genius  that  built  the  world." 

The  unity  of  creation  is  the  ruling  thought  of 
our  day  in  both  science  and  philosophy.  It  im- 
plies a  single  creative  Mind.     In  the  unitary  scheme 


THEGODOFMUSIC  295 

which  has  been  worked  out  through  endless  com- 
plexity of  form  and  function,  music  has  an  essential 
part  to  play.  Everything  in  the  universe  is  har- 
moniously related  to  everything  else.  By  musical 
law,  everything  is  the  logical  consequent  of  its 
antecedents.  One  system,  one  efficient  power,  and 
one  directive  thought  leading  to  a  harmonious  con- 
summation, prove  unity  of  cause,  if  reason  is  to  be 
trusted.  All  physical  forces  are  phases  of  motion. 
The  universal  method  by  which  potentiality  be- 
comes transitive  force  is  that  of  wave-vibration  in 

the  ether.     Lord  Kelvin's  theory  of  atomic  consti-  )  ~'       . 

orra  y 
tution    as   simply  that   of  uniform  whorls   in  the  ^^ 

substance  called  ether,  still  holds  its  hypothetic  | 
ground.'  Heat,  light,  color,  chemical  energy,  elec- 
tricity, sound,  including  musical  notes,  and  perhaps 
the  vital  forces,  are  products  of  differing  degrees 
and  forms  of  vibrant  motion.  All  the  arts  are 
members  of  one  family  with  common  vibratile 
parentage,  and  having  the  same  purpose,  to  in- 
terpret God  to  man.  Each  of  them  gives  its 
special  evidence  to  the  creative  skill  and  unceasing 
benevolence  of  the  Divine  Artist,  whose  gracious 
provision  they  are. 


296  GODANDMUSIC 

Music,  both  science  and  art,  overflows  with  marks 
of  design.  Its  historic  development,  according  to 
laws  immutable  yet  permitting  free  exercise  of  gen- 
ius, is  an  instance  of  the  educative  good-will  of  a 
far  seeing  Creator.  By  itself,  music  speaks  con- 
vincingly of  consummate  intellect,  tciste,  and  good- 
ness guiding  the  purpose  of  the  single  Author  of 
this  unitary  system.  If  many  gods  had  taken  part 
in  a  composite  preparation  for  such  an  art,  inevita- 
ble discord  would  have  been  the  result.  But  when 
a  harmonious  unity  of  plan  is  found  to  exist 
throughout  all  the  different  departments  of  evolu- 
tionary activity,  the  probability  of  one  Evolver  who 
was  also  the  Involver  of  everything  normal  that  is- 
sues during  the  process,  becomes  substantial  dem- 
onstration. The  evolutionary  scheme,  like  a  sym- 
phonic poem,  has  its  unity,  continuity,  and  distinctive 
character  only  because  these  are  in  the  original  plan. 
Music,  in  its  manifold  perfections  of  harmonious 
form,  is  a  beautiful  example  of  the  oneness  of  the 
universe.  It  illustrates  the  fact  that  nature  is  an  in- 
tellectual unity  in  a  composite  variety,  which,  with- 
out a  single  coordinating  Mind  would  be  discordant 
chaos. 


THE   GOD  OF  MUSIC  297 

Human  reason  demands  a  cause  for  every  fact. 
Second  causes  depend  upon  a  First.  Physical  cau- 
sation cannot  explain  itself.  Mere  order  is  not 
causal.  It  requires  thought,  and  thought  implies  a 
thinker.  The  unity  of  nature  is  the  product  of  a 
single  intelligent  Cause.  Its  order  is  unmistakably 
that  of  a  thought-process.  As  an  example,  the 
music  of  the  universe,  latent  in  acoustic  forces  and 
their  la\vs,  temptingly  hinted  at  in  both  animate  and 
inanimate  nature,  coming  to  definite  birth  and  un- 
folding glory  in  the  art  history  of  man,  absolutely 
requires  an  intelligent  Source  of  its  scientific  con- 
stitution and  its  aesthetic  development. 

As  a  peculiar  manifestation  of  cosmic  forces  ruled 
by  universal  laws,  music  comes  under  the  same  prin- 
ciple of  causality  with  the  entire  cosmos  in  its  com- 
plex yet  unitary  structure.  The  underlying  reality 
of  the  universe  is  now  believed  to  be  spiritual,  it 
being  more  and  more  doubted  whether  there  is  any 
such  thing  as  a  separate  entity  to  be  called  matter. 
The  art  which  is  most  spiritual  in  its  elements  and 
processes,  traces  its  lineage  directly  to  a  non-ma- 
terial origin.  Matter,  as  matter,  neither  thinks, 
feels,  nor  creates  motion ;  therefore,  it  cannot  pos- 


298  GOD  AND   MUSIC 

sibly  impart  thought,  emotion,  or  motivity.  All 
the  physical  forces  in  the  world,  Grove  asserts,  can- 
not generate  new  force  enough  to  move  a  grain  of 
sand.  Much  less  could  they  produce  one  musical 
note  apart  from  intelligent  will  in  or  above  nature ; 
for  every  musical  note  is  a  complex  event  demand- 
ing mind  for  either  production  or  audition.  There- 
fore, a  merely  physical  origin  of  music  cannot  be 
possible.  Its  original  source  must  be  the  primal 
Mind  from  which  all  ordered  force  derives  its  en- 
ergy and  character. 

Within  the  sonorous  embodiment  of  musical  tones 
aligned  in  law-governed  forms,  is  a  psychical  con- 
tent that  must  have  had  a  psychical  origin.  This, 
in  our  common  experience,  is  the  human  mind,  but 
ultimately  it  must  be  traced  back  to  the  originating 
thought  and  will  of  the  Infinite  Spirit.  As  a  mere 
combination  of  sweet  sounds  to  give  sensuous  pleas- 
ure, music  could  never  satisfy  the  soul  of  man.  If 
an  appeal  to  sense  only,  this  art  would  deserve  no 
more  consideration  than  that  of  the  soda-water  pur- 
veyor. But  it  appeals  to  the  spiritual  nature.  He 
who  truly  feels,  stands  in  immediate  relation  to  the 
insensuous  world,  to  reason,  imagination,  sentiment. 


THE  GOD  OF  MUSIC  299 

love, — to  God;  and  music  is  a  guiding  influence 
that  may  bring  the  sensitive  soul  quickest  into  this 
presence.  It  is  alone  among  the  arts  in  that  its  ut- 
terances pass  direct  to  the  consciousness.  Hence, 
Gurney  thinks,  is  its  power  to  awaken  in  thousands 
inaccessible  to  any  other  form  of  high  emotion,  a 
sense  of  beauty,  order,  and  perfection.  And  hence 
we  must  infer  a  spiritual  authorship  for  effects  so 
thoroughly  spiritual. 

But  music  is  not  mere  expression  of  feeling.  It 
calls  for  the  cooperative  activity  of  imagination,  un- 
derstanding, and  purposive  will.  By  their  harmo- 
nious action  it  gratifies  the  profound  craving  for  ideal 
beauty.  In  its  time  and  place,  it  has  power  over 
the  spiritual  nature  of  man  beyond  that  of  reason 
itself.  After  the  mathematical  and  purely  physical 
elements  in  music  are  taken  account  of,  there  is  a 
spiritual  increment  present  which  is  by  far  its  most 
important  factor.  In  the  original  scheme,  and  in 
its  guided  development,  this  must  be  traced  back  to 
a  personal,  divine  Spirit.  Nothing  but  soul  can  put 
soul  into  music,  and  the  soul  is  God's  work.  The 
more  of  God  there  is  in  composer  or  performer,  the 
loftier  and  purer  the  strain.     Tribes  without  a  defi- 


300  GODANDMUSIC 

nite  idea  of  a  divine  Being  are  also  destitute  of  any- 
thing that  can  be  called  music.  At  the  other  end 
of  the  scale  of  civilization,  philosophic  atheism  is 
also,  as  a  rule,  musically  barren.  Unbelief  does  not 
praise.  The  real  Author  of  melody  and  harmony 
keeps  these  priceless  boons,  in  their  best  forms,  for 
the  special  behoof  of  those  who  take  the  Giver  with 
the  gift. 

It  would  be  expected  that,  with  such  authorship, 
so  ethereal  an  art,  with  a  mission  of  universal 
benefaction,  would  be  harnessed  under  strict  law, 
lest  it  wander  in  confused  and  willful  ways,  and  so 
spoil  its  high  intent.  With  all  its  plasticity  and 
free  range  of  form,  from  the  airiest  of  swift-winged 
notes  to  the  sombre  requiem  or  measured  fugue, 
no  elemental  force  is  more  bound  by  exact  statutes 
of  unbending  nature.  Mathematics  are  as  fixed  as 
fate,  and  music,  in  its  physical  constitution,  is 
nothing  but  number  applied  to  sound.  If  law  has 
its  home  in  the  bosom  of  God,  there  it  finds  music, 
and  sends  it  forth  with  an  inner  frame  of  acoustic 
steel  that  will  carry  it  to  all  worlds  unchanging  and 
unhurt. 


THE  GOD  OF  MUSIC  301 

The  law  of  absolute  order  in  harmony  is  dearly 
manifest.  "  Regular  and  measured  in  its  move- 
ments as  the  celestial  orbs,  no  deviation  is  allowed 
to  harmony  even  in  its  boldest  flights.  An  al- 
mighty will  seems  to  have  bound  it  to  magnificence 
and  grandeur,  restricting  its  freedom  to  the  latitude 
of  the  laws  whose  expression  it  is."  Melody  is 
more  free,  though  subject  to  tonality,  scale  relation- 
ships, and  fine  laws  of  expression  which  guard  it 
from  random  and  rebellious  flights.  Harmony,  too, 
has  its  wide  range  of  modulation  and  novel  com- 
bination at  command.  Freedom  under  law  is  the 
God-given  charter  of  the  human  spirit.  Music,  in 
its  two  grand  divisions,  shares  the  same  order,  is 
"  in  the  bounds  of  law,"  and  is  thus  a  subject  of 
the  same  Lord. 

It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  to  note  that  mu- 
sicians, who  are  really  such,  are  a  law-abiding  class, 
nor  that  kindly  song,  with  its  rhythmic  charm  and 
its  pure  and  happy  associations,  has  often  quelled 
moral  and  social  disturbance,  brought  peace  to 
distracted  minds,  and  stimulated  the  weary  and 
despairing.  The  statutes  of  God's  musical  realm 
may    well    be    our    songs   in  the  house   of    our 


302  GODANDMUSIC 

pilgrimage.  They  are  his  spiritual  law  in  the 
natural  world.  Laws  so  perfect  and  so  beneficent 
could  only  come  from  a  Lawgiver  of  ethical  and 
aesthetic  perfection. 

In  primal  chaos  the  laws  of  matter  are  latent  and 
inoperative.  Atomic  arrangement  from  the  first  dis- 
closes orderly  mind.  Arrangement  for  a  definite 
end  shows  design  plus  motive.  The  mathematics 
of  music  save  the  universe  from  acoustic  chaos. 
Its  tonal  beauty  reveals  a  creative  love  of  the 
beautiful  in  sound,  and  also  an  intention  in  the 
Creator  to  awaken  the  same  in  intelligent  beings, 
and  share  its  joys  with  them.  Design  is  shown  not 
more  in  the  mathematical  regimen  of  music  than 
in  the  manifold  beauty  of  its  ordered  forms  adapted 
to  spiritual  ends. 

There  is  an  ascending  scale  of  things  beautiful 
that  is  plainly  meant  to  lead  from  the  lower  to  the 
higher,  from  the  natural  and  human  to  the  divine. 
Physical  loveliness  is  the  fitting  envelope  for  intel- 
lectual and  moral  beauty,  a  lure  from  outward  to 
inward  perfection.  First  come  certain  arrange- 
ments of  matter  not  in  themselves  beautiful,  but 


THE  GOD   OF  MUSIC  303 

which  awaken  the  aesthetic  idea  in  mind  that  can 
alone  perceive  beauty.  Then  follows,  kindled  as 
spark  from  flint  by  these  purposely  ordered  atoms, 
the  sense  of  unity,  symmetry,  and  grace.  This  is 
the  conscious  perception  of  a^thetic  beauty.  It  is 
echoed  and  magnified  in  the  action  of  the  mind 
itself,  so  that  well  ordered  thought  is  more  ad- 
mirable than  ordered  form.  Last  and  highest,  is 
moral  excellence,  "  the  calm  beauty  of  an  ordered 
life."  This  is  the  essential  beauty  of  spiritual 
being. 

The  primal  principle  of  each  and  all  these  de- 
grees of  perfection  is  the  principle  of  absolute 
truth.  It  is  the  law  of  God's  own  being.  The 
question  why  this  principle  should  take  on  an  in- 
vestiture of  universal,  many-sided  beauty,  leads  to 
the  conclusion  that  it  was  to  reveal  in  congenial 
and  alluring  manner  the  nature  of  the  divine  Mind, 
and  so  to  attract  men  toward  the  higher,  spiritual 
beauty.  The  beneficence  of  the  beautiful,  as  the 
manifestation  of  the  divine  character  thus  made 
concrete  and  fruitful  in  blessing,  reveals  a  side  of 
God  most  inviting  to  all  his  creatures  capable  of 
aesthetic  pleasure. 


304  GODANDMUSIC 

The  love  of  beauty  inherent  in  the  divine  nature 
explains  the  place  it  holds  in  man's  mind,  since  he 
is  structurally  like  his  Maker.  Hence  it  is  that  the 
human  soul  reacts  so  universally  to  the  visibly  and 
audibly  beautiful.  Man  feels  a  sense  of  kinship, 
Professor  Shaler  says,  with  the  Author  of  this  ex- 
quisite creation.  "  The  fact  that  Nature  is  beauti- 
ful to  us,  that  its  action  meets  a  swift  response  in 
our  minds,  is  best  explained  by  supposing  that  its 
informing  Spirit  is  akin  to  our  own.  Not  as 
naturalists,  perhaps,  but  as  reasoning  beings,  we 
are  forced  to  suppose  a  like  quaUty  in  the  Power 
that  shaped  it." 

In  the  mind  of  God  the  various  kinds  of  beauty, 
physical,  intellectual,  moral,  and  spiritual,  must  be 
inseparable.  Too  commonly,  men  select  the  lower 
forms  of  the  beautiful  to  cultivate  and  enjoy,  neg- 
lecting or  opposing  the  claims  of  the  True  and 
the  Good.  This  is  literal  heresy,  according  to  the 
etymology  of  the  word,  and  heresy  of  a  most  un- 
worthy sort,  fatal  in  the  end  to  both  the  lower  and 
the  higher  types  of  beauty.  That  music  should  be 
snatched  from  hands  celestial,  and  made  to  minister 


1 


THEGODOFMUSIC  305 

to  sensual  or  self-glorifying  uses,  is  aesthetic  blas- 
phemy and  ungrateful  atheism.  Holiness  is  whole- 
ness, moral  unity.  A  voice  or  an  instrument  that 
should  break  away  from  the  written  harmony,  and 
follow  its  own  sweet  or  unsweet  will,  regardless  of 
other  concerted  parts,  would  not  more  surely  make 
unbearable  discord  than  in  moral  relations  does 
the  artist,  or  any  other  self-willed  individual,  who 
chooses  to  enjoy  music  solely  for  the  pleasure  or 
sordid  gain  it  may  bring.  Beyond  other  arts, 
music,  in  its  native  purity  and  power,  represents 
the  holiness  of  beauty,  and  commends  the  beauty 
of  holiness.  Happy  indeed  are  mortals  who  see  in 
their  Maker  the  union  of  both,  and  aspire  to  realize 
both  in  their  own  spiritual  history.  Goethe's  say- 
ing, "  The  eye  must  be  sunny  that  would  see  the 
sun,"  applies  equally  to  audible  art  and  to  spiritual 
sight  and  hearing. 

"He  only  sees  who  is  happy  in  the  seeing, 
He  only  hears  in  the  gladness  of  belief." 

To  know  and  enjoy  the  highest  beauty  of  art,  the 
soul  must  know  beauty's  Author.  And,  con- 
versely, those  who  know  God,  see  and  hear  more 


3o6  GODANDMUSIC 

in  his  works  than  other  men.     For  them  the  abso- 
lute beauty  shines  and  sings  in  all  its  inferior  forms. 

That  the  Divine  Artist,  himself  perfect  in  holi- 
ness, seeks  in  every  way  the  holy  wholeness  of 
men,  is  evidence  of  purest  altruism  in  the  world's 
Governor  and  government.  The  Great  Musician 
continually  furnishes  to  all  sentient  creatures  the 
elements  of  tonal  beauty  which  he  has  made  them 
capable  of  enjoying.  He  leads  men  on  in  the  de- 
velopment of  this  art  which  ministers  health,  hap- 
piness, and  potency  of  grace  wherever  rightly 
known.  Not  only  does  it  greatly  increase  the 
"  vital  value"  of  life  in  this  world,  but  adds  to  it  a 
spiritual  value  of  progressive  worth  good  for  all 
worlds. 

In  the  closely  articulated  book  of  nature  an  illu- 
minated chapter  might  be  found  showing  the  place, 
nature,  history,  and  manifold  benefit  of  the  uni- 
versal fact  of  music.  It  may  be  conceived  of  as  a 
strand  of  audible  beauty  running  through  the  whole 
fabric  of  evolution,  to  bless  the  sentient  creation 
more  and  more,  and  especially  to  spiritualize  the 
race  of  man.     Or,  is  it  to  be  thought  of  as  a  divine 


THE  GOD   OF  MUSIC  307 

theme  given  in  the  beginning,  when  the  morning- 
stars  sang  together,  and  ever  since  worked  out  in 
forms  of  increasing  complexity  and  beauty  adapted 
to  each  stage  of  advancing  development,  till  in  hu- 
man experience  it  has  become  representative  of  the 
harmonies  of  heaven,  past,  present,  and  yet  to  be  ? 
No  boon  richer  in  potential  blessing,  except  Re- 
demption, of  which  music  is  a  ministering  agency, 
has  been  given  to  mankind. 

This  art,  then,  should  be  held  in  sweetest  rever- 
ence, and  treated  as  a  revelation  of  Deity  for  man's 
highest  good.  In  this  respect,  St.  Hildegarde  set 
an  example  worthy  to  be  remembered.  She  had, 
as  Dr.  Storrs  in  "  Bernard  of  Clairvaux  "  tells  us, 
great  reverence  for  music,  which  she  declared  to 
have  an  origin  in  the  divine  voice  of  the  Spirit  of 
God,  of  which  terrestrial  melodies  are  but  echoes. 
So  she  insisted  that  the  art  should  be  cultivated  in 
a  devout  frame  of  mind,  and  called  sages  those  who 
served  well  on  organs. 

It  is,  indeed,  the  greatest  blessing  of  music  that 
in  it  the  very  voice  of  God  testifies  of  the  Creator's^ 
own  profoundeat  love  of  the  beautiful,  and  his  desire 
that  every  living  creature,  according  to  the  capacity 


3o8  GODANDMUSIC 

of  each,  shall  share  his  joy  in  it.  It  tells  man  of 
the  many-sided  nature  of  his  Maker ;  that  he  exists 
to  bless  the  offspring  of  his  creative  Fatherhood; 
that  his  omniscience  is  pledged  to  maintain  absolute 
truth  in  the  least  and  the  greatest  works  of  his 
power ;  that  his  laws  are  justly  uniform  in  all  parts 
of  his  universe ;  that  his  nature  is  perfect  in  good- 
ness, truth,  and  beauty;  and  that  he  has  formed 
man  to  perceive  and  richly  to  enjoy  the  divine  self- 
revelation  in  either  form. 

In  the  unforced  development  of  the  art  of  music, 
the  Sovereign  of  the  universe  gives  proof  that  the 
inhabitants  of  this  world,  at  least,  are  accorded  true 
freedom  under  a  wise  and  beneficent  reign  of  law. 
Able  to  do  whatever  he  wills,  he  wills  to  do  only 
that  which  is  in  harmony  with  the  true  and  the 
beautiful.  This  is  the  liberty  he  would  have  his 
earthly  children  freely  choose  and  enjoy. 

By  the  system  of  inflexible  law  which  rules  the 
universal  acoustic  realm,  the  All-wise  shows  that 
the  Beautiful  rests  upon  the  True  and  the  Right. 
These  principles  of  his  own  nature  are  basic  in  all 
nature.     His  character  is  moral  adamant.     His  aes- 


THE   GOD   OF   MUSIC  309 

thetic  thought  is  harmonious  light  and  shadow, 
form,  color,  and  music.  His  sole  motive  is  love. 
In  the  perfect  harmony  of  the  divine  qualities  man 
has  a  perfect  standard  for  life  here  and  hereafter. 

i^sthetic  tastes  and  pursuits  are  sometimes  looked 
upon  as  signs  of  mental  weakness.  Too  often,  they 
are  regarded  as  chiefly  fitted  to  minister  to  passing 
enjoyment  or  still  lower  ends.  When  Confucius, 
Plato,  Shakespeare,  Bismarck,  and  other  men  of 
hke  force  and  leading  find  in  music  a  source  of 
strength,  stimulus,  and  healthful  dehght,  it  is  evi- 
dent that,  to  avoid  enfeeblement  or  perversion,  the 
only  need  is  to  maintain  right  proportion  of  the 
practical,  the  ethical,  and  the  aesthetic. 

The  Infinite  One  is  the  embodiment  of  sanity  and 
integrity,  yet  clothes  himself  in  robes  of  visual  and 
audible  beauty,  as  fitting  garments  of  that  holiness 
which  is  perfect  wholeness.  And  this  is  his  gra- 
cious will  for  his  intelligent  creatures,  that  they 
shall  be  Hke  him  in  solid  structure  of  character,  and, 
like  him,  shall  put  on  the  exquisite,  joy-giving  grace 
of  the  Beautiful.  Such  a  God,  however  named  or  wor- 
shipped, deserves  to  be  known,  loved,  and  imitated. 

THE    END 


Index 


Absoluts  mosic,  41;  beauty, 

304. 
Acadtmit  tUt  Sciences,  experi- 
ments   in    musiod    therapy, 

183. 
Acoustics,  proof  of  a  Creator, 

108. 
Addison,  power  of  music,  140. 
ibthetic  evidence  of  Deity,  21, 

206. 
Agnosticism,  positive   needless, 

18. 
Ahriman,  an  aesthetic,  19. 
Air,  composition  and  functions 

of,  100-104. 
Air,  light,  and  sound,  100. 
Alden,  H.   M.,  gravitation  the 

tonality  of  the  universe,  213. 
Albrecht,  Dr.,  prescribed  music, 

151. 
Altruism,  of  the  Creator,  317  ; 

in  provision  of  music,  306; 

of  evolution,   220;  of  music, 

327. 
Anarchism,  music  an  antidote, 

244,  265. 
Ancient  cures  by  music,  186. 
Animals,   effect    of    music   on, 

221. 

Animism,  of  early  music,  257. 
Andersen,  Hans  Christian,  an- 
ecdote of  Jenny  Lind,  230. 


«« Angel  of  the  Tombs,"  music 
in  cell  of  murderess,  231. 

Argyle,  Duke  of,  aesthetic  intent 
in  nature,  206  ;  thcistic  argu- 
ment from  beauty,  121. 

Aristotle,  26,  147,  213,  253. 

Architecture  and  music,  49,  1 16. 

Art,  before  art,  27 ;  bridge  be- 
tween concrete  and  ideal, 
131 ;  its  uplifting  power, 
234 ;  not  the  final  end  in 
creation,  19;  outgoing  of 
man's  spiritual  nature,  2C7 ; 
of  Greece  offspring  of  music, 
256;  inspired  by  faith,  263; 
acts     through     imagination, 

354- 

Arts,  one  family  mterpretmg 
God  to  man,  295. 

Association,  influence  of,  160. 

Atheism,  unreasonable  in  a 
musical  universe,  18. 

Augustine,  saying  of,  137. 

Azarias,  Brother,  function  of  aes- 
thetic sense,  126;  the  higher 
rhythm,  203. 

Bach,  Sebastian,  39 ;  religious 

office  of  music,  76. 
Bacon,  Lord,  affinities  of  music, 

36. 
Balzac,  44. 


311 


312 


INDEX 


Beautiful,  the,  love  of  shows 
God  and  man  akin,  128; 
rests  on  the  True  and  the 
Right,  308 ;  theistic  argument 
from  undeveloped,  9, 121,  204. 

Beauty,  an  end  in  nature,  131  ; 
and  strength  make  complete 
character,  309;  ascending 
scale  to  holiness,  302;  not 
explained  by  utility,  123; 
office  of  to  elevate  and  refine, 
128;  one  of  the  strongest 
theistic  evidences,  21 ;  the 
motive  force  of  art,  41 ; 
theory  of,  129;  a  mental 
fact,  121. 

Beecher,  H.  W.,  wonders  of 
the  unheard,  276. 

Beethoven,  24,  262;  consoled 
bereaved  friend  with  music, 
229;  felt  himself  but  a  be- 
ginner, 275 ;  sonnet  to,  72. 

Benevolence,  creative  shown 
in  musical  healing,  225 ;  in 
creation,  219 ;  of  the  beauti- 
ful, 303. 

Bernard  of  Clairvaux,  39,  307. 

Bible  and  music,  29,  38;  his- 
tory of  music,  29,  38,  258. 

Bird  songs  not  "  music,"  51. 

Birds,  the  first  musicians,  52. 

Bismarck,  304;  German  music 
helped  secure  German  vnity, 

147. 
Bjerknes,    musical     theory     of 

gravitation,  28. 
Blumer,  Dr.  G.  A.,  on  music  for 

insane,  178. 
Boehme,  Jacob,  16. 
Brahma,  gave  music  to  men  in 

Hindu  belief,  258. 
Brown,     Christine,     theory    of 

musical  healing,  189. 


Browning,  Robert,  131,  257; 
Abt  Vogler,  ix,  xi,  289. 

Bushnell,  Horace,  music  the 
medium  of  feeling,  285  ;  the 
soul-interpreting  law  of  music, 
255 ;  universal  capacity  for 
music,  46,  47. 

Capacity  for  music  univer- 
sal, 222. 

Carlyle,  Thomas,  36,  50,  78. 

Cause,  one  of  all  the  universe, 
17 ;  second  causes  require  a 
First,  297. 

Character  needs  both  strength 
and  beauty,  309. 

Chalmers,  Dr.,  on  eye  and  ear, 
no;  music  and  moral  cul- 
ture, 202. 

"  Charles  Auchester,"  27,  114, 
266. 

Chladni  figures,  116. 

Chomet,  Dr.,  influence  of  music 
on  health,  152. 

Chopin  comforted  by  music  in 
dying  hour,  229. 

Christian  song,  history  of,  260; 
power  of,  157,  158,  261. 

Christianity,  the  religion  of 
spiritual  song,  155. 

Cheney,  S.  P.,  bird  songs,  55, 

Chrysostom,  music  uplifting, 
140. 

Clark,  Xenas,  diatonic  scale  in 
bird  songs,  56. 

Color,  analogies  of  spectrum 
with  tones,  114;  and  music, 
in;  and  vowel  sounds, 
113;  color  piano,  in  ;  color 
scheme  of  orchestra,  114; 
treatment  for  insane,  175. 

Communism  of  music,  224, 
239- 


^ 


INDEX 


3«3 


h 


Confucius,  309 ;  direct  action  of 

music  on  mind,  146. 
Consecration,   music    demands, 

326,  235. 
Converse,  Charles  Crorat,  41. 
Conversion  of  Europe  through 

Christian  hymns,  261. 
Consciousness  of  sound,  106. 
Cook,  Prof.  J.  P.,  101. 
Correlations  of  music,  proof  of 

creative  mind,  99. 
Corning,    Dr.    J.     L.,    musical 

treatment  of  nervous  invalids, 

180-182. 
Correspondence  of  external  with 

internal,  1 1 7. 
Corti,  fibres  of,  35,   105,  I18; 

selective      nerve      filaments, 

210. 
Creation,   product   of  spiritual 

force,      104;      product      of 

thought,  98. 
Crime  and  music,  191. 
Cunres  of  musical  notes,  1 17. 

Damrosch,  F.,  People's  Choral 
Union,  232. 

Darwin,  Charles,  51,  123,  142, 
275;  answered,  122;  teleol- 
ogy in  nature,  196,  203. 

Definitions  of  music,  38. 

Democratic  character  of  music, 
341,  246. 

Design  in  history  of  music,  195 ; 
in  machine  tools  and  in 
music,  195 ;  and  evolution, 
196. 

De  Stael,  music  likened  to 
grace,  255. 

Development  by  definite  stages, 
282. 

Diatonic  scale  ancient,  58;  in 
nature,  52,  54,  59,  90. 


Diman,  J.  L.,  35 ;  mathematical 
laws  of  universe,  89 ;  mathe- 
matics of  beauty,  198. 

Discords,  emblem  of  sin,  288, 
305  ;  intentional,  290  ;  resolu- 
tion of,  289;  expectant,  289; 
use  of,  66. 

Drapes,  Dr.,  music  in  Irish 
asylums,  168. 

Drum  worship,  153. 

Drydcn,  44. 

Duncan,  K.  K.,  radiant  energy, 
96. 

Dynamic  Age,  illustrated  by 
music,  141. 


Ear,  a  resonator,  105 ;  study 
of,  a  cure  for  atheism,  109; 
wonders  of,  104. 

Earth,  an  instrument  of  music, 

47- 
Egyptian,    idea    of   music,    29; 

belief    in    medical    value  of 

music,  150. 
Eliot,  George,  75. 
Emerson,  Joseph,  music  a  fine 

art,  37  ;  music  the  language 

of  spirit,  284. 
Emotion,  the  spiritual  dynamic, 

253- 

Ergograph  of  TarchanoflF,  185. 

Esquirol,  experiments  in  mu- 
sical therapy,  and  opinion, 
166. 

Evolution,  a  symphonic  poem, 
296 ;  a  thought-process,  281 ; 
man  the  climax  of,  278;  of 
altruism,  220;  of  organs  and 
faculties,  281 ;  not  opposed  to 
design,  54,  68,  196;  tends  to 
perfection,  273 ;  and  design, 
202 ;  unfinished,  274. 


3H 


INDEX 


Expression  by  music,  24,  80, 
220,  222 ;  modern  thought 
emphasizes,  134;  of  spiritual 
experiences,  25. 

Faber,  F.  W.,  39,  96. 

Fables  of  musical  wonders, 
144. 

Faith,  best  music  a  gift  to,  300 ; 
inspires  best  music,  263 ;  see- 
ing power  of,  305. 

Fetichism,  77,  257. 

Fichte,  J.  G.,  the  stream  of  life, 
120. 

Fiske,  John,  complex  sensation 
of  musical  tone,  211  ;  music 
the  most  religious  art,  254; 
trend  of  evolution  toward 
perfection,  273. 

Fletcher,  Alice,  music  of  In- 
dians, 149. 

Folk  songs,  first  social  expres- 
sions, 243. 

Foster,  Rebecca,  "  Angel  of  the 
Tombs,"  232. 

Freedom  under  law  in  music, 
244.  296,  301.  308. 

Geometry  and  music,  116. 

Giddings,  social  summum 
bonum,  244. 

Gladstone,  heart  music  of 
Psalms,  259. 

God,  a  Lover  of  beauty,  17;  a 
Lover  of  music,  21,  45  ;  char- 
acter of,  18;  speaks  in  music, 
36;  the  Great  Musician,  18; 
the  sole  Cause  indicated  by 
music,  17 ;  unity  of  proved  by 
music,  20. 

Goethe,  the  sunny  eye,  305. 

Gounod,  spiritual  influence  of 
music,  283. 


Government,  good  music  aids, 

146. 
Grace,  the  resolution  of  moral 

discords,  287. 
Greek,  art  grew  out  of  musical 

worship,  258 ;  religious  origin 

of  music,  258  ;  idea  of  beauty, 

120. 
Gruber,  sound  and  color,  113. 
Guido     of    Arezzo,    completed 

diatonic  scale,  213. 
Guild  of  St.  Cecilia,  169,  170. 
Gurney,  direct  power  of  music, 

299. 

Haeckel,  53. 

Handel,  Hallelujah  Chorus  in- 
spired, 136. 

Hanslick,  E.,  26,  201 ;  music  not 
a  product  of  mathematics, 
133 ;  spiritual  force  of  music, 

143- 

Harmonics,  5^1?  Partials,  62. 

Harmony,  child  of  Christianity, 
50;  law  of  absolute  order, 
301 ;  offspring  of  religious 
music,  261 ;  of  heaven,  mu- 
sical and  social,  288 ;  the  law 
of  creation,  29. 

Harris,  S.,  beauty  a  revelation 
of  God,  204;  definition  of 
beauty,  129. 

Hastings,  H,  L.,  instinctive 
sense  of  musical  tone,  107. 

Hauptmann,  201 ;  definition  of 
music,  222. 

Haweis,  H.  R.,  great  composers 
high-minded  and  religious, 
263 ;  music  and  health,  164. 

Haydn,  his  deep  religious  feel- 
ing, 262. 

Hearing,  acute  power  of,  108; 
instinctive  power  of,  107. 


INDEX 


3<5 


Heaven,  its  music  excels  all  on 
earth,  380 ;  music  its  possible 
language,  384 ;  music  a  type 
of,  370,  388. 

Hegel,  final  cause  defined,  3o8. 

Helmholtz,  34,  64,  68,  86,  105, 
aoi ;  analogies  o(  spectrum 
with  musical  tones,  1 14. 

Herzian  waves,  31,  96,  340. 

Hill,  Pres.  Thomas,  rate  of 
sound  propagation,  I02. 

Hindu,  idea  of  music,  39 ;  belief 
in  power  of  music,  146. 

History,  of  hymnody,  157 ;  of 
religious  mus'c,  153,  358,  36l ; 
of  religion  and  music  insepa- 
rable, 355. 

Holiness,  composite  beauty  of 
spirit,  304 ;  of  music,  see 
"  Charles  Auchester." 

Hospitals,  musical  mission  in, 
188 ;  musical  treatment  in, 
170. 

Humanity,  harmony  the  art- 
form  of  idea  of,  386. 

Huxley,  T.,  the  beautiful  a 
gratuity  in  creabon,  137; 
music  versus  pessimism,  323. 

Ideal,  voice  of  the,  38. 

Imagination,  the  mediator  of 
art,  354. 

Imbeciles,  good  effect  of  music 
on,  179. 

Immortality,  demanded  by 
music,  37 1 ;  the  goal  of  de- 
velopment, 274 ;  argument 
for,  373. 

Indian  music,  149. 

Infidelity  and  music,  76. 

Insane,  benefited  by  music,  166, 
170,  175. 

Intemationahsm  of  music,  341. 


James,     Willum,    successive 

impressions  of  sound,  3 10. 
Jenner,  Dr.,  musical  sun-dial,  53. 

Keller,  Helen,  what  hearing 
would  do  for  her,  1 10. 

Kelvin,  Lord,  theory  of  atoms, 
395. 

Keynote,  of  buildings,  48 ;  of 
nature,  48  ;  in  musical  thera- 
peutics, 191. 

Kingsley,  Charles,  the  Great 
Mysticism,  136  ;  music  a  type 
of  heaven,  370. 

Knight,  William,  131. 


Lancet,  London,   healing  by 

music,  151,  184. 
Language  and  music,  34. 
Lanier,  Sidney,  363;  religious 

importance    of    music,.  3CO; 

visible      curves    of    musical 

notes,  117;  design  in  music, 

194- 

Lathrop,  44. 

Law,  Andrew,  theology  and 
music,  16. 

Law  in  music,  a  theistic  evi- 
dence, 86 ;  expressive  of  will. 

Laws  of  music,  prove  a  moral 

law,  87 ;   wings,   not  chains, 

243 ;  universal,  300. 
Leibnitz,   definition   of    music, 

133;  preestablished  harmony, 

208. 
Lev^ue,  theory  of  beauty,  139. 
Lichtenthal,  cures  wrought  by 

music,  152. 
Light,  color,  and  sound,  112. 
Lind,  Jenny,    benevolence    of, 

216,  230. 


3i6 


INDEX 


Livermore,  Mrs.  M.  A.,  music 
for  sick  soldiers,  189. 

Longfellow,  H.  W.,  52. 

Lotze,  27. 

Lucretius,  52. 

Luther,  exalted  music,  147, 
156;  hymns  in  vernacular, 
261. 

Lyon,  Dr.  S.  B.,  music  for  in- 
sane, 177. 

Man,  the  crown  of  evolution, 
278 ;  akin  to  God,  304. 

Markham,  Edwin,  love  the  key 
of  cosmic  music,  218;  voice 
of  the  Ideal,  38. 

Martineau,  James,  84. 

Materialism,  music  an  antidote, 
263. 

Mathematics  and  music,  91. 

Matheson,  G.,  rise  of  idea  of 
immortality,  257. 

Matter,  spiritual  origin  of,  47. 

Maxwell,  Clerk,  philosophy  de- 
mands a  God,  197. 

Mazzini,  advice  to  young  musi- 
cians, 264 ;  social  mission  of 
music,  247. 

Medical  value  of  music,  150- 
153.  165-191. 

Melody,  first  learned,  50 ;  free 
under  law,  299 ;  indicates  in- 
spiration, 132;  motion  of 
pitch,  34 ;  whence,  256. 

Mendelssohn,  music  a  distinct 
language,  229,  230. 

Missionary  work  helped  by 
music,  158. 

Modern  thought  emphasizes  ex- 
pression, 134. 

Moral  condition  of  art  and  im- 
mortality, 261,  279;  culture 
through  music,  202. 


Morris,  Lewis,  influence  of 
music,  140. 

Mozart,  religious  feeling  and 
hope,  262,  263. 

Miiller,  Max,  melody  an  inspi- 
ration, 256. 

Munger,  T.  T.,  216;  law  in 
music,  84,  301 ;  music  a  direct 
path  to  God,  250;  music  a 
social  symbol,  238. 

Music,  an  altruistic  art,  20  ;  a 
cosmic  fact,  18,  26,  30,  115; 
an  example  of  universal  law, 
20 ;  a  fine  art,  37  ;  a  self  reve- 
lation of  Deity,  40 ;  a  spirit- 
ual product,  92;  a  symbol 
of  final  harmony,  20 ;  a  uni- 
versal language,  20 ;  com- 
munism of,  224,  239 ;  defini- 
tions of,  25 ;  evidence  of 
Deity,  17  ;  expression  of  emo- 
tion, 34 ;  fleeting  nature  of, 
271;  given  as  a  potentiality, 
224 ;  in  nature,  39,  45  ;  and 
language,  33,  34 ;  and  mathe- 
matics, 20,  91;  of  heaven, 
280,  283,  284;  emblem  of 
ideal  society,  288,  290 ;  of 
the  spheres,  30, 40 ;  represent- 
ative of  modern  thought,  24  ; 
rhythmical  origin  of,  32 ; 
spiritual  in  essence,  20,  35 ; 
spiritual  origin  necessary, 
298;  subject  to  strict  law,  20, 
87,  243,  300 ;  theology  of,  22, 

Musicians,  a  law  abiding  class, 
301;  benevolent,  216;  Maz- 
zini's  advice  to,  262 ;  should 
be  high  minded,  235, 263,  264. 


Napoleon,    high    opinion    of 
music,  147. 


INDEX 


National  hymn-tune  of  three 
countries,  24a. 

National  lyrics,  influence  of, 
148. 

Nature,  keynote  of,  48 ;  music 
in,  39,  45  ;  no  "  music  "  of 
nature,  49 ;  order  of,  a  thought 
process,  297. 

Newman,  J.  H.,  source  of  mu- 
sical impressions,  160. 

Niagara,  music  of,  65. 

Nicolas  of  Cusa,  16. 

Numbers,  the  skeleton  of  music, 
9i- 

Obkoiknck,  taught   by   music, 

243- 
Ohm,  law  of,  209. 
Oldys,  H.  W.,  diatonic  scale  in 

bird  music,  54. 
Organism,    with    finer    senses, 

ays- 
Order    of   nature,    a    thought- 
process,  297. 
Overtones,  see  Partials,  62. 

Palestrina,  363;  established 
tonality,  213. 

Palmer,  Capt.  H.  S.,  musical 
tones  of  sand  on  Sinai,  46. 

Parry,  C.  H.  H.,  design  in  mu- 
sic, 200 ;  law  of  contrasts,  74 ; 
origin  of  scale,  59;  purpose 
of  music,  73. 

Partials,  diatonic  scale  potential 
in,  56,  66 ;  office  of,  62,  66, 
90 ;  theistic  evidence  in,  92. 

Patriotism,  aroused  by  national 
lyrics,  148,  149. 

Perfection,  tendency  to  in  uni- 
verse, 272. 

Persian  music,  59 ;  theory  of 
musical  healing,  150. 


Petersen,  Dr.  J.,  music  as  a 
therapeutic  ag^ent,  167. 

Physicians,  opinions  of  musical 
treatment,  170,  171. 

Pierce,  Benjamin,  development 
signifies  immortality,  377 ; 
unrealized  possibilities  of  na- 
ture, 376. 

Pilgrim,  Dr.  C.  \V.,  music  in 
hospitals,  178. 

Pisa,  echo  in  Baptistery,  47. 

Pitch,  persistence  of  in  air,  loi. 

Plato,  309;  benefit  of  musical 
traming,  140 ;  musical  har- 
mony the  soul  of  the  cosmos, 
29 ;  music  an  imitation  of 
life,  26;  purpose  of  music, 
75 ;  the  ab«olute  beauty, 
204;  theory  of  beauty,  139; 
vision  of  divine  beauty,  373. 

Pole,  W.,  selective  power  of 
ear,  309. 

Polytheism,  discord  inevitable, 
396;  prohibitory  of  science, 
21. 

Popular  choral  classes,  benefit 
of,  232. 

Possibilities  of  music  limitless, 

275.  277- 

Power  of  music  on  unculti- 
vated, 135 ;  of  religious  mu- 
sic, 155,  156. 

Progress  of  music  in  future, 
278. 

Propagation  of  sound  in  air, 
102. 

Prophets,  their  schools  of  mu- 
sic, 260. 

Psalms,  heart  music  of,  259; 
CL.,  292. 

Pythagoras,  nature  organized  ac- 
cording to  harmony,  29,  146  ; 
music  in  quadrivium,  225. 


3i8 


INDEX 


Radiant  energy,  96. 

Rameau,  67. 

Rational  origin  of  human  mu- 
sic, 57-. 

Refining  influence  of  music,  38. 

Reformation,  hymns  in  popular 
tongue,  261 ;  spread  by 
hymns,  157. 

Religion  and  music,  252-267  ; 
a  definition  of,  251 ;  its  claim 
on  music,  79. 

Religious  music,  ofiice  of,  76; 
power  of,  155  ;  origin  of  mu- 
sic in  Greece,  258. 

Rhythm,  of  universe,  28. 

Rhythmical  origin  of  music,  32. 

Ribot,  mental  effect  of  music, 
181. 

Rice,  I.  L.,  geometry  and  mu- 
sic, 116;  music  "the  beauti- 
fier  of  time,"  127. 

Royce,  J.,  symphony  of  divine 
perfection,  292. 

Sabatier, — power  of  music 
with  unknown  words,  77. 

Santayana,  Prof.,  beauty  needs 
no  explanation,  125. 

Sauveur,  J.,  90;  gave  name  to 
acoustics,  62. 

Scales,  Asiatic,  59 ;  Oriental 
and  European,  89 ;  see  Dia- 
tonic. 

Schelling,  34. 

Schopenhauer,  music  character- 
ized by,  25,  27. 

Schumann,  66. 

Science,  an  exact,  of  music,  89 ; 
like    beauty  a  mental    fact, 

132. 

Searing,    S.    S.,    influence    of 

singing  on  criminals,  191. 
Sensation  of  tone  complex,  211. 


Shaler,  Prof.  N.  S.,  love  of 
beauty  common  to  God  and 
man,  304;  response  in  mind 
to  beauty,  137. 

Shakespeare,  84,  309  ;  music  a 
test  of  character,  147. 

Smith,  Goldwin,  beauty  not  ac- 
counted for  by  evolution, 
127;  music  an  antidote  to 
anarchy,  244. 

Smyth,  Newman,  argument  for 
immortality,  274;  social  law 
of  development,  287. 

Social,  bond  found  in  music, 
245 ;  summum  bonum  the 
development  of  personality, 
244 ;  value  of  music,  224 ; 
mission  of  music,  247. 

Sound,  and  consciousness,  106 ; 
rate  of  propagation,  102. 

Spencer,  Herbert,  244;  impor- 
tance of  music,  75 ;  rhythm 
a  fact  of  all  motion,  28. 

Spiritual  essence  of  music,  35, 
281,  298. 

Spohr,  consecration  of  sound,  25. 

Stratton,  H.  W.,  crime  and  mu- 
sic, 191;  keynote  in  musical 
therapeutics,  191. 

Storrs,  R.  S.,  St.  Hildegarde's 
reverence  for  music,  307. 

Swinburne,  A.  C,  216. 

Symonds,  J.  A.,  Greek  feeling 
of  beauty,  120. 

Sympathy,  inspired  by  music, 
216,  238,  245. 

Syntony,  demanded  by  music, 
240;  spiritual,  267. 

Tarchanoff,  music  a  medi- 
cine for  the  soul,  152;  expe- 
riments in  musical  therapeu- 
tics, 185. 


INDEX 


319 


Taylor,  Bayard,  seeing  power 
of  faith,  305. 

Teniple,  Shckinah  came  with 
its  praises,  156. 

Tennyson,  '•  The  Two  Voices," 
16;  "  In  Memoriam,"  3a, 
164 ;  •'  Ode  to  Duke  of  Wel- 
lington," 270. 

Teleology,  in  Darwin's  theory, 
196. 

Thayer,  Eugene,  music  of  Ni- 
agara, 65. 

Thaxter,  Celia,  sonnet  to  Bee- 
thoven, 72. 

Theology,  and  music,  16,  32. 

Therapeutics,  musical,  i^i,  165. 

Tomlins,  W.  M.,  musical  in- 
struction for  poorchildren,232; 
working-cbss  concerts,  234. 

Tonality,  the  acoustic  centre  of 
gravity,  212. 

Tyndall,  inaudible  sound,  199; 
unheard  music,  270;  lan- 
guage of  design,  203. 

Unity,  in  variety,  principle  of 
art,  90;  of  God  proved  by 
music,  ao;  of  nature  implies 
unitary  cause,  294 ;  of  nature, 
music  an  example,  296. 

Universe,  rhythmical,  25 ;  the 
self-expression  of  God,  253. 

Van  Dykk,  Henry,  unselfish 
selfishness  of  musician,  228. 


Verdi,  Requiem  an  expression 
of  faith,  263. 

Vibration,  rates  and  ratios,  102, 
105  ;  regularity  of,  necessary 
to  music,  88 ;  universe  a  prod- 
uct of,  97  :  universal,  17. 

Vibratory  treatment  of  neurot- 
ics, 183  ;  of  wounds,  187. 

Visible  curves  of  musical  notes, 
117. 

Vocal  culture  good  for  body 
and  mind,  188. 

Vowel  sounds,  and  associated 
colors,  113;  theoretically 
composed,  68. 

Walton,  Izaak,  nightingale  a 
harbinger  of  heaven,  280. 

Wesley,  39;  his  hymns  con- 
quered opposers,  158. 

Will,  motive  power  of  creation, 
29. 

Windelband,  disinterestedness 
of  art,  327. 

Working-class  concerts,  234. 

Worship,   by    music,    78,    250, 

*S7- 
Wounds,  cured  by  music,  186. 
Wundt,  accord  of  internal  and 

external  laws,  130. 

Zahm,  J.  A.,  acoustics  proof  of 
a  Creator,  1 10;  hearing  of 
partials,  65. 

Zola,  26. 


>i^ 


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